Revolution member supporting apparatus and semiconductor substrate processing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A revolution member supporting apparatus holds and rotates a disc-shaped object (object to be rotated) such as a semiconductor wafer. The revolution member supporting apparatus includes a rotatable member which rotates about an axis of rotation, and a plurality of holding members which are disposed along a circle having a center corresponding to the axis of rotation of the rotatable member, and which revolve around the axis of rotation when the rotatable member rotates, wherein the holding members are allowed to swing about their own central axes.

This application is a divisional application of Ser. No. 09/842,650,filed Apr. 27, 2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a revolution member supportingapparatus for holding and rotating a disc-shaped object (object to berotated) such as a semiconductor wafer. The present invention alsorelates to a semiconductor substrate processing apparatus for formingcircuit interconnects by filling a circuit pattern trench and/or holeformed in a semiconductor substrate with a plated metal film, andremoving the plated metal film while leaving the metal film at thefilled portion.

2. Description of the Related Art

For example, a semiconductor wafer, which has undergone a copper-platingtreatment or a CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) treatment, isgenerally subjected to a cleaning treatment. The cleaning treatment isusually performed by supplying a cleaning liquid onto the upper surfaceof a semiconductor wafer around its center, while the wafer is beingheld horizontally and rotated by a revolution member supportingapparatus, and allowing the cleaning liquid to diffuse radially over theupper surface of the wafer by the action of centrifugal force.

It is usual with such a revolution member supporting apparatus to hold asemiconductor wafer by engaging the periphery of the wafer with aplurality of holding members.

In conventional revolution member supporting apparatuses, such holdingmembers always engage certain fixed portions in the periphery of asemiconductor wafer when the wafer is held and rotated. Accordingly,there has been the problem that a cleaning liquid cannot reachadequately into the engaging portions, and therefore a satisfactorycleaning treatment cannot be carried out.

An attempt has been made to solve this problem by making a change ofholding members during a cleaning treatment. According to this approach,for example, two pairs of holding members, each pair consisting of threemembers, are provided, and a semiconductor wafer is allowed to be heldby each of the two pairs separately by exchanging one pair for the otheraccording to the rotating speed of the apparatus. This approach,however, has the problem that since the number of holding members inengagement with a semiconductor wafer is relatively small, the wafercannot be held sufficiently firmly, whereby slipping of the wafer at theengaging portions is likely to occur. This may wear the holding membersand produce particles that contaminate the semiconductor wafer.

Generally, aluminum or aluminum alloys have been used as a material forforming interconnection circuits on a semiconductor substrate. Thehigher integrated density of semiconductor devices requires that amaterial having a higher electric conductivity should be used forinterconnection circuits. Thus, there has been proposed a method whichcomprises plating a surface of a semiconductor substrate having acircuit pattern trench and/or hole formed therein to fill Cu (copper) orcopper alloy into the circuit pattern trench and/or hole, and removingthe Cu or copper alloy with the exception of the filled portion, therebyforming circuit interconnects.

The above method of forming circuit interconnects will be described withreference to FIGS. 1A through 1C. As shown in FIG. 1A, a conductivelayer 101 a is formed on a semiconductor substrate 101 on whichsemiconductor devices are formed, and an oxide film 102 of SiO₂ isdeposited on the conductive layer 101 a. Then, a via hole 103 and atrench 104 for an interconnect are formed in the oxide film 2 bylithography and etching technology. Thereafter, a barrier layer 105 ofTiN or the like is formed thereon, and then a seed layer 107 as anelectric supply layer for electroplating is formed on the barrier layer105.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1B, the surface of the semiconductor substrate Wis coated with copper by electroplating to deposit a plated copper film106 on the oxide film 102, thus filling the via hole 103 and the trench104 with copper. Thereafter, the plated copper film 106 and the barrierlayer 105 on the oxide film 102 are removed by chemical mechanicalpolishing (CMP), thus making the plated copper film 106 in the via hole103 and the trench 104 lie flush with the oxide film 102. In thismanner, an interconnect composed of the plated copper film 106 isproduced as shown in FIG. 1C.

In this case, the barrier layer 105 is formed so as to cover asubstantially entire surface of the oxide film 102, and the seed layer107 is also formed so as to cover a substantially entire surface of thebarrier layer 105. Thus, in some cases, as shown in FIG. 2, a copperfilm which is the seed layer 107 resides in a bevel (outer peripheralportion) of the semiconductor substrate W, or copper is deposited on anedge (outer peripheral portion) inwardly of the bevel of thesemiconductor substrate W and remains unpolished (not shown in thedrawing).

Copper can easily be diffused into the oxide film 102 in a semiconductorfabrication process such as annealing, for example, thus deterioratingthe electric insulation of the oxide film and impairing the adhesivenessof the oxide film with a film to be subsequently deposited to possiblycause separation of the deposited film. It is therefore necessary toremove the remaining unnecessary copper completely from the substratebefore at least film deposition. Furthermore, copper deposited on theouter peripheral portion of the substrate other than the circuitformation area is not only unnecessary, but may cause crosscontamination in subsequent processes of delivering, storing andprocessing the semiconductor substrate. For these reasons, it isnecessary that the remaining deposited copper on the peripheral portionof the substrate should be completely removed immediately after thecopper film deposition process or the CMP process. Here, the outerperipheral portion of the substrate is defined as an area including anedge and a bevel of the semiconductor substrate W, or either the edge orthe bevel. The edge of the substrate means areas of the front and backsurfaces of the semiconductor substrate W within about 5 mm from theouter peripheral end of the substrate, and the bevel of the substratemeans an area of the outer peripheral end surface and a curved portionin a cross section of the semiconductor substrate W within 0.5 mm fromthe outer peripheral end of the substrate.

Recently, a so-called dry-in dry-out configuration in which a substrateis introduced in a dry state and removed in a dry state is employed in aplating apparatus for performing Cu plating of copper interconnection,and a polishing apparatus for performing chemical mechanical polishing.The apparatuses have such structure that after respective processingsteps such as plating or polishing are performed, particles are removedand dried by a cleaning unit and a spin-drying unit, and thesemiconductor substrate is taken out in a dry state from the respectiveapparatuses. In this manner, the plating apparatus and the polishingapparatus perform many common processes, which are essentiallysuccessive processes. Thus, there have been problems that the initialcost and the running cost for the apparatuses are high, installationspaces for installation of both apparatuses need to be wide, and a longprocessing time is required.

Currently, the driving force for semiconductor devices is changing fromwork stations and personal computers to digital information householdelectric appliances (game machines, cellular phones, digital stillcameras, DVD, car navigation instruments, digital video cameras, and thelike). Under these circumstances, LSI production also needs to respondto changes from general purpose LSIs used in personal computers, and thelike, to system LSIs required for digital information household electricappliances.

These system LSIs are characterized by a wide variety of products, lowvolume production, great fluctuations in the number of products made,and a short life of product, as compared with general purpose LSIs. Inorder to reduce the instrument costs of digital information householdelectrical appliances, it is indispensable to reduce the manufacturingcost for LSIs. In semiconductor production plants as well, it isdemanded to shift from the concept of large scale lines to thepossession of many types of small scale lines, and minimize theproduction time rather than the amount of production. In order to copewith these demands, it is demanded for future semiconductor deviceproduction to respond quickly to the needs of instrument manufacturersand place semiconductor devices on the production lines as promptly aspossible. Besides, since changes in demand are drastic, it is necessarythat functional changes can be made flexibly, or the apparatus can berenewed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in view of the above drawbacks. Itis therefore a first object of the present invention to provide arevolution member supporting apparatus which, when used in a cleaningtreatment of an object to be rotated such as a semiconductor wafer, forexample, can allow, such as, a cleaning liquid, supplied during thecleaning treatment, to reach the entire peripheral area of the object tobe rotated and, in addition, can securely hold the object to be rotatedand prevent the generation of particles.

A second object of the invention is to provide a semiconductor substrateprocessing apparatus which can lower the initial cost and the runningcost of the apparatus, does not need a wide installation space, can formcircuit interconnects by copper or copper alloy in a short processingtime, and provide substrates that are free from remaining copper film atan edge and bevel portion which will cause cross contamination.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductorsubstrate processing apparatus suitable for production lines whichproduce products in many different varieties, in a low volume, ingreatly fluctuated numbers, and with a short product life, such assystem LSIs used in digital information household electric appliances,are on a small scale, and can flexibly make functional changes or canrenew the apparatus.

In order to achieve the first object, a first aspect of the presentinvention comprises a rotatable member which rotates about an axis ofrotation; and a plurality of holding members which are disposed along acircle having a center corresponding to the axis of rotation of therotatable member, and which revolve around the axis of rotation when therotatable member rotates; wherein the holding members are allowed toswing about their own central axes.

When an object to be rotated, such as a semiconductor wafer, is held androtated by the revolution member supporting apparatus in carrying out anintended treatment such as cleaning, the peripheral portions of theobject in engagement with the holding members can be shifted, during thetreatment, by allowing the holding members to swing to a desired degreeof angle about their central axes.

Preferably, each of the holding members has a free end with an arc-likerecess for engaging a peripheral portion of an object to be rotated.Further, the holding members are allowed to swing to a predetermineddegree of angle about their own central axes.

It is preferred that each of the holding members has a center of gravitydeviated from the central axis of the holding member, for example, byattaching thereto a weight which has its center of gravity at a distancefrom the central axis of the holding member. This enables the holdingmember to swing about its central axis according to the rotating speedof the rotatable member.

It is also preferred that each of the holding members can move betweenan engaging/holding position where the holding member engages aperipheral portion of an object to be rotated, and a release positionwhere the holding member is detached from the object to be rotated alonga radial direction of the rotatable member. The loading and unloading ofan object to be rotated into and from the revolution member supportingapparatus may be made when the holding member is in the releaseposition.

The revolution member supporting apparatus is preferably provided withan elastic body that causes the holding member located in theengaging/holding position to engage elastically with the peripheralportion of the object to be rotated. Such an elastic body may be aspring.

In order to achieve the second object, a second aspect of the presentinvention, comprises a carry-in and carry-out section for carrying inand carrying out a semiconductor substrate having a surface on which acircuit is formed, in a dry state; a plated metal film forming unit forforming a plated metal film on the semiconductor substrate which hasbeen carried in; a polishing unit for polishing at least part of theplated metal film on the semiconductor substrate; a cleaning unit forcleaning the semiconductor substrate held by a revolution membersupporting apparatus; and a transfer mechanism for transferring thesemiconductor substrate between the units; wherein the revolution membersupporting apparatus comprises: a rotatable member which rotates aboutan axis of rotation; and a plurality of holding members which aredisposed along a circle having a center corresponding to the axis ofrotation of the rotatable member, and which revolve around the axis ofrotation when the rotatable member rotates; wherein the holding membersare allowed to swing about their own central axes.

By constituting the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus asdescribed above, processing in which a power supply seed layer and aplated metal film are applied onto a semiconductor substrate having atrench and/or a hole for an interconnection pattern formed on a surfacethereof, and having a barrier layer formed thereon, the power supplyseed layer and the plated metal film are polished and removed, and thesubstrate is cleaned and dried to form interconnects, can be performedcontinuously by one apparatus. Thus, compared with a case in whichrespective treatment steps are performed by separate apparatuses, theentire apparatus can be compact, a wide installation space is notneeded, the initial cost and running cost for the apparatus can bedecreased, and interconnects can be formed in a short processing time.

The present invention comprises a carry-in and carry-out section forcarrying in and carrying out a semiconductor substrate having a surfaceon which a circuit is formed, in a dry state; an annealing unit forannealing the semiconductor substrate; a polishing unit for polishing atleast part of the plated metal film on the semiconductor substrate; acleaning unit for cleaning the semiconductor substrate held by arevolution member supporting apparatus; and a transfer mechanism fortransferring the semiconductor substrate between the units; wherein therevolution member supporting apparatus comprises: a rotatable memberwhich rotates about an axis of rotation; and a plurality of holdingmembers which are disposed along a circle having a center correspondingto the axis of rotation of the rotatable member, and which revolvearound the axis of rotation when the rotatable member rotates; whereinthe holding members are allowed to swing about their own central axes.

Since the annealing unit is provided, as described above, the adhesiveforce of the plated metal film is stable, there is no fear that theplated metal film may peel during polishing, and electricalcharacteristics of the plated metal film are improved.

According to the present invention, there is provided a reinforcing seedlayer forming unit for forming a reinforcing seed layer on thesemiconductor substrate.

According to the present invention, there is provided a seed layerforming unit for forming a seed layer on the semiconductor substrate.

According to the present invention, there is provided a barrier layerforming unit for forming a barrier layer on the semiconductor substrate.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cap plating unitfor forming a plated cap layer on the semiconductor substrate.

By providing the cap plating unit as described above, a cap plating forpreventing oxidation or degradation of a plated metal film can beapplied onto the upper surface of the plated metal film, so thatoxidation and degradation of the upper surface of the plated metal filmcan be prevented.

According to the present invention, there is provided a bevel etchingunit for etching and removing at least one of the plated metal film, aseed layer and a barrier layer formed at a peripheral edge portion ofthe semiconductor substrate.

According to the present invention, the steps of removing a plated metalfilm edge portion and a bevel portion after formation of the platedfilm, and polishing the plated film on the semiconductor substrate canbe performed continuously by one apparatus.

According to the present invention, there is provided a film thicknessmeasuring instrument for measuring the film thickness of the film formedon the semiconductor substrate.

By measuring the film thickness as described above, the plating time forobtaining the desired plated film thickness, the polishing time, and theannealing time can be adjusted. By providing the detection sensor, thesubstrate surface state such as the metal film thickness of thesubstrate can be detected without stopping or interrupting the substratetreatment process, and the substrate surface state can also be detected,while high throughput is realized.

According to the present invention, each of the units isinterchangeable.

Since the respective units are adapted to be interchangeable, asdescribed above, renewal of the function of the entire substrateprocessing apparatus can be achieved at a low cost in a short time.

According to the present invention, in the plated metal film formingunit, plating treatment and cleaning treatment are performed in such astate that the semiconductor substrate is held by a substrate holdingportion.

By performing plating treatment and cleaning treatment in such a statethat the semiconductor substrate is held by a substrate holding portion,as described above, plating treatment and cleaning treatment can beperformed without moving the semiconductor substrate and no contaminantsare brought into a next process.

The present invention provides a semiconductor substrate processingapparatus comprising: a carry-in and carry-out section for carrying inand carrying out a semiconductor substrate having a surface on which acircuit formed, in a dry state; a plated metal film forming unit forforming a plated metal film on the semiconductor substrate which hasbeen carried in; an annealing unit for annealing the semiconductorsubstrate; a bevel etching unit for etching and removing at least one ofa plated metal film, a seed layer and a barrier layer formed at aperipheral edge portion of the semiconductor substrate held by arevolution member supporting apparatus; and a transfer mechanism fortransferring the semiconductor substrate between the units; wherein therevolution member supporting apparatus comprises: a rotatable memberwhich rotates about an axis of rotation; and a plurality of holdingmembers which are disposed along a circle having a center correspondingto the axis of rotation of the rotatable member, and which revolvearound the axis of rotation when the rotatable member rotates; whereinthe holding members are allowed to swing about their own central axes.

The present invention further provides an interior of facilities aredivided into a loading and unloading area and a treatment unit area, afirst robot is provided in the loading and unloading area fortransferring a substrate between a loading and unloading section thataccommodates a cassette and a temporary storage section disposed in thetreatment unit area, and a second robot is provided in the treatmentunit area for transferring the substrate between the temporary storagesection and various treatment units disposed in the treatment unit area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A through 1C are schematic views for forming interconnects on asemiconductor substrate;

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state in which a seed layer and a barrierlayer have remained in a bevel portion as a result of CMP performedwithout bevel etching process of a semiconductor substrate;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a revolution member supportingapparatus accordance to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side view showing the details of a holdingmember of the revolution member supporting apparatus for supporting adisc-shaped object;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of FIG.5;

FIG. 7 is a view showing a plan constitution example of a semiconductorsubstrate processing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a schematic constitution example of a polishingtable and a top ring in the semiconductor substrate processing apparatusaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a view showing a schematic constitution example of a cleaningunit in the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according tothe present invention;

FIG. 10 is a view showing a schematic constitution example of a cleaningmachine of the polishing table in the semiconductor substrate processingapparatus according to the present invention;

FIGS. 11A through 11C are views showing a robot in the semiconductorsubstrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, andFIG. 11A is a view showing an appearance, FIG. 11B is a plan view of arobot hand, and FIG. 11C is a cross-sectional view of the robot hand;

FIG. 12 is a view showing a plan constitution of a plated Cu filmforming unit in the semiconductor substrate processing apparatusaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a view showing a sectional constitution of a substrateholding portion and a cathode portion of the plated Cu film forming unitin the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 15 is a view showing a sectional constitution of an electrode armportion of the plated Cu film forming unit in the semiconductorsubstrate processing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a plan view of a state in which a housing has been removedfrom an electrode portion of the electrode arm shown in FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is a schematic view showing an anode and a plating liquidimpregnated material according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic view showing an anode and a plating liquidimpregnated material according to another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 19 is an electrical equivalent circuit of an electrolytic treatmentapparatus shown in FIGS. 17 and 18.

FIG. 20 is a plan view schematically showing a state in which a platingliquid is spreading throughout the surface, to be plated, of a substratewhen plating is performed using the plated Cu film forming unitillustrated in FIG. 15;

FIGS. 21A and 21B are views of different modifications of FIG. 20, eachschematically showing a state in which a plating liquid is spreadingthroughout the surface, to be plated, of the substrate;

FIG. 22 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electroplatingapparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 23 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electroplatingapparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electroplatingapparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 25 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electroplatingapparatus applied to the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a schematic view of an essential part showing a portion closeto an outer peripheral portion of a plating liquid impregnated materialin the electroplating apparatus;

FIGS. 27A and 27B are views showing other embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 28 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 29 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 30 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 31 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 32 is a view showing a flow of the respective steps in thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 31;

FIG. 33 is a view showing a schematic plan constitution example of analigner and film thickness measuring instrument in the semiconductorsubstrate processing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 34 is a view showing a side constitution example of the aligner andfilm thickness measuring instrument of the semiconductor substrateprocessing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 35 is a view showing movement of a semiconductor substrate in thealigner and film thickness measuring instrument illustrated in FIGS. 33and 34;

FIG. 36 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electrolessplating apparatus using an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 37 is a view showing a schematic constitution example of a beveland backside cleaning unit in the semiconductor substrate processingapparatus according to the present invention;

FIGS. 38A through 38D are views showing base plate constitution examplesfor placing respective units in the semiconductor substrate processingapparatus according to the present invention;

FIGS. 39A and 39B are views showing schematic front constitutionexamples of the respective units in the semiconductor substrateprocessing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIGS. 40A and 40B are views showing schematic front constitutionexamples of the respective units in the semiconductor substrateprocessing apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 41 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 42 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 43 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIGS. 44A through 44C are schematic views showing an example of aplating step;

FIG. 45 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electrolessplating apparatus using another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 46A and 46B are views showing the results of measurement of thefilm thicknesses of semiconductor substrates which areelectroless-plated by the methods of the present invention and aconventional example;

FIG. 47 is a plan view showing an example of a plating apparatus towhich the present invention is applied;

FIG. 48 is a plan view showing an example of a CMP apparatus to whichthe present invention is applied;

FIG. 49 is a view showing an example of a plating and CMP apparatus towhich the present invention is applied;

FIG. 50 is a perspective view showing a transfer robot;

FIGS. 51A and 51B are views showing a robot hand attached to thetransfer robot, and FIG. 51A is a plan view and FIG. 51B is a sidesectional view;

FIGS. 52A and 52B are views showing a transfer robot to which thepresent invention is applied, and FIG. 52A is a schematic plan view andFIG. 52B is a schematic side view;

FIGS. 53A and 53B are views showing an example to which the presentinvention is applied, and FIG. 53A is a schematic plan view and FIG. 53Bis a schematic side view;

FIG. 54 is a schematic front view of the neighborhood of a reversingmachine to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 55 is a plan view of a reversing arm portion;

FIG. 56 is a sectional view of an essential part of a plating module towhich the present invention is applied;

FIG. 57 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 58 is an explanatory view showing an air current in the platingapparatus shown in FIG. 57;

FIG. 59 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a main part of aplating unit;

FIG. 60 is an enlarged view showing a part of the plating unit shown inFIG. 59;

FIG. 61 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a platingprocess unit in a plating apparatus;

FIG. 62 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a platingprocess unit in a plating apparatus;

FIG. 63 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a platingprocess unit in a plating apparatus;

FIG. 64 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a platingprocess unit in a plating apparatus;

FIG. 65 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a platingprocess unit in a plating apparatus;

FIG. 66 is a cross-sectional view showing a whole structure of a platingprocess unit at the time of plating process in a plating apparatus;

FIG. 67 is a schematic diagram showing a flow of a plating liquid in aplating apparatus provided with a plurality of the plating process unitsshown in FIG. 66;

FIG. 68 is a cross-sectional view showing a whole structure of theplating process unit at the time of non-plating process (at the time oftransfer of a substrate);

FIG. 69 is a cross-sectional view showing a whole structure of theplating unit at the time of maintenance;

FIG. 70 is a cross-sectional view explanatory of a relationship among ahousing, a pressing ring, and a substrate at the time of transfer of asubstrate;

FIG. 71 is an enlarged view showing a part of FIG. 66;

FIGS. 72A through 72D are schematic views explanatory of the flow of aplating liquid at the time of plating process and at the time ofnon-plating process;

FIG. 73 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a centeringmechanism;

FIG. 74 is a cross-sectional view showing a feeding contact (probe);

FIG. 75 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 76 is a view showing a plan constitution example of thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 77 is a vertical sectional view of an annealing unit; and

FIG. 78 is a transverse sectional view of the annealing unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described withreference to the drawings. FIGS. 3 through 6 show an embodiment of arevolution member supporting apparatus in accordance with the presentinvention. The revolution member supporting apparatus 40 is for holdinga substrate (object to be rotated) W such as a semiconductor wafer, andhas a disc-shaped rotatable member 44 that is set horizontally androtated by a rotatable drive shaft 42, and a plurality of holdingmembers 46 for holding the substrate W above the rotatable member 44.The holding members 46 are mounted on the peripheral portion of therotatable member 44 and arranged along a circle with the rotatable driveshaft 42 as a center, with each two adjacent members being spaced at apredetermined distance (60° in the embodiment of FIG. 4). The holdingmembers 46 engage the periphery W′ of the substrate W, thereby holdingthe substrate W horizontally. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 47 denotes abelt driving device for connecting the rotatable drive shaft 42 to amotor M for driving, and H denotes a housing for accommodating therevolution member supporting apparatus 40, that is adapted to prevent acleaning liquid or the like supplied from a nozzle N to the substrate Wfrom scattering all around and collect the scattered liquid which isthen discharged through a discharge pipe D.

FIG. 5 shows the details of each holding member 46. The holding member46 is substantially columnar and has near its top an engaging surface 48in an annular groove form. The engaging surface 48 is adapted to make afriction engagement with the periphery W′ of the substrate W. Theholding member 46 vertically penetrates a slot 50, which is formed inthe peripheral portion of the rotatable member 44 and extends in theradial direction thereof, and is rotatably supported at its bottom by aholding plate 52. The holding plate 52 is located below the rotatablemember 44 and is so constructed that it is allowed to rotate togetherwith the rotatable member 44. The holding member 46 is held on theholding plate 52 in such a manner that it is allowed to swing about itsown central axis. That is, the holding plate 52 has, mounted thereon, asmall-diameter shaft 54 extending vertically upward, whereas in theinside of the holding member 46, a hole 56 is formed that extends upwardfrom the bottom of the holding member 46. The hole 56 is adapted to makea clearance fit with the small-diameter shaft 54, so that the holdingmember 46 can swing about the small-diameter shaft 54 as a center.

Further, a weight 58, extending horizontally, is mounted on lower end ofthe holding member 46. When the rotatable member 44 rotates about itsaxis of rotation, i.e., the rotatable drive shaft 42, and the holdingmember 46 revolves around the shaft 42, the weight 58 is forced to move(swing) by the action of centrifugal force whereby the holding member 46swings (rotates) about its own axis (i.e., the shaft 54). The positionof the weight 58 shown by the solid line in FIG. 6 represents a homeposition, where the weight 58 is forced by pressure through an elasticmeans, not shown. When a certain centrifugal force is applied, theweight 58 is forced to move in the direction of arrow A towards theposition shown by the chain line, whereby the substrate W is made tomove in the direction of arrow B.

The holding plate 52 is supported, in such a manner that it can movehorizontally in the direction of arrow C, i.e., the radial direction ofthe rotatable member 44 by a link mechanism or the like, not shown, sothat the holding member 46 can move along the slot 50 between anengaging/holding position (the position shown in FIG. 5) where theholding member 46 engages the periphery W′ of the substrate W and arelease position which is spaced radially outwardly from theengaging/holding position and in which the holding member 46 detachesfrom the periphery W′ of the substrate W. Further, the holding plate 52is pressed inwardly in the radial direction of the rotatable member 44by a spring 60 so that the engaging surface 48 of the holding member 46in the engaging/holding position elastically engages the periphery W′ ofthe substrate W through the spring 60.

The operation of the revolution member supporting apparatus 40 forholding and rotating the substrate will now be described. First, eachholding member 46 is moved, against the pressure by the spring 60,outwardly in the radial direction of the rotatable member 44 to therelease position. Thereafter, the substrate W is set horizontally abovethe rotatable member 44, and the holding member 46 is returned to theengaging/holding position to bring the engaging surface 48 intoengagement with the periphery W′ of the substrate W, thereby allowingthe holding member 48 to elastically hold the substrate W.

When the rotatable member 44 is driven to rotate and the holding member46 revolves, a centrifugal force comes to act on the weight 58. Thecentrifugal force acting on the weight 58 is weak when the rotationalspeed of the rotatable member 44 is low, and so the weight 58 is keptmotionless due to the pressure by the spring which forces the weight 58in the home position. When the rotational speed of the rotational member44 is higher than a particular value, the centrifugal force acting onthe weight 58 exceeds the counter pressure by the spring and causes theweight 58 to swing, whereby the holding member 46 swings (rotates) aboutits central axis. Since the holding member 46 is in friction engagementwith the periphery W′ of the substrate W as described above, theswinging of the holding member 46 makes the substrate W move in thedirection of arrow B shown in FIG. 6, thus shifting the engaging portionin the periphery W′ of the substrate W.

According to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the weight 58, whosecenter of gravity is eccentric to the central axis of the holding member46, is mounted on the holding member 46. The use of such an eccentricweight, as described above, enables the holding member 46 to swing(rotate) about its central axis as the rotatable member 44 rotates.However, the mechanism for the swinging (rotation) of the holding member46 is not limited thereto. Thus, for example, a link mechanism may beconnected to the holding member 46, and the holding member 46 may beallowed to swing (rotate) through the action of the link mechanism.

The revolution member supporting apparatus of the present invention,which has the above structural features and technical effects, canadvantageously be utilized in a cleaning treatment of a substrate(object to be rotated) such as a semiconductor wafer. When cleaning isperformed to the substrate while it is held and rotated by therevolution member supporting apparatus, the peripheral portions of thesubstrate in engagement with the holding members can be shifted duringthe cleaning treatment, whereby a cleaning liquid can reach to theentire peripheral area of the substrate, thus enabling a satisfactorycleaning treatment.

Though the revolution member supporting apparatus can be applied to anycleaning device, it is most suitably employed in a bevel-etching devicefor performing bevel-etching (etching of edge and bevel portions) to asemiconductor wafer. The use of the revolution member supportingapparatus in the bevel-etching device, while ensuring the holding of asemiconductor wafer, can shift the edge portions (the periphery W′) ofthe semiconductor wafer in engagement with the holding members, wherebyetching can be effected to every edge or bevel portion of thesemiconductor wafer.

Further, since an object to be rotated such as a semiconductor wafer isheld by all of the holding members that are provided in the revolutionmember supporting apparatus, the object to be rotated can be held firmlyand, therefore, the above described problem of generation of particlescan be prevented.

FIG. 7 is a view showing the plan constitution of a semiconductorsubstrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect of thepresent invention. The semiconductor substrate processing apparatus ofthe present invention is of a constitution in which there are provided aloading and unloading section 1, a plated Cu film forming unit 2, afirst robot 3, a third cleaning unit 4, a reversing machine 5, areversing machine 6, a second cleaning unit 7, a second robot 8, a firstcleaning unit 9, a first polishing apparatus 10, and a second polishingapparatus 11. A before-plating and after-plating film thicknessmeasuring instrument 12 for measuring the film thicknesses before andafter plating, and a dry state film thickness measuring instrument 13for measuring the film thickness of a semiconductor substrate W in a drystate after polishing are placed near the first robot 3.

The before-plating and after-plating film thickness measuring instrument12, and the dry state film thickness measuring instrument 13, especiallythe dry state film thickness measuring instrument 13, may be provided ona hand of the first robot 3, as will be described later on. Thebefore-plating and after-plating film thickness measuring instrument 12may be provided at a semiconductor substrate carry-in and carry-outopening of the plated Cu film forming unit 2, although this is notshown, so as to measure the film thickness of the semiconductorsubstrate W carried in, and the film thickness of the semiconductorsubstrate W carried out.

The first polishing apparatus (polishing unit) 10 has a polishing table10-1, a top ring 10-2, a top ring head 10-3, a film thickness measuringinstrument 10-4, and a pusher 10-5. The second polishing apparatus(polishing unit) 11 has a polishing table 11-1, a top ring 11-2, atopring head 11-3, a film thickness measuring instrument 11-4, and a pusher11-5.

A cassette 1-1 accommodating the semiconductor substrates W, in which avia hole 103 and a trench 104 for interconnect are formed, and a seedlayer 107 is formed thereon as shown in FIG. 1A, is placed on a loadingport of the loading and unloading section 1. The first robot 3 takes outthe semiconductor substrate W from the cassette 1-1, and carries thesemiconductor substrate W into the plated Cu film forming unit 2 where aplated Cu film 106 is formed. At this time, the film thickness of theseed layer 107 is measured with the before-plating and after-platingfilm thickness measuring instrument 12. The plated Cu film 106 is formedby carrying out hydrophilic treatment of the face of the semiconductorsubstrate W, and then Cu plating. After formation of the plated Cu film106, rinsing or cleaning of the semiconductor substrate W is carried outin the plated Cu film forming unit 2. If there is time to spare, dryingof the semiconductor substrate W may be performed. Constitution examplesand operations of the plated Cu film forming unit 2 will be described indetail later on.

When the semiconductor substrate W is taken out from the plated Cu filmforming unit 2 by the first robot 3, the film thickness of the plated Cufilm 106 is measured with the before-plating and after-plating filmthickness measuring instrument 12. The method of measurement is the sameas for the seed layer 107. The results of its measurement are recordedinto a recording device (not shown) as record data on the semiconductorsubstrate, and are used for judgment of an abnormality of the plated Cufilm forming unit 2. After measurement of the film thickness, the firstrobot 3 transfers the semiconductor substrate W to the reversing machine5, and the reversing machine 5 reverses the semiconductor substrate W(the surface on which the plated Cu film 106 has been formed facesdownward). The first polishing apparatus 10 and the second polishingapparatus 11 perform polishing in a serial mode and a parallel mode.Next, polishing in the serial mode and the parallel mode will bedescribed.

[Serial Mode Polishing]

In the serial mode polishing, a primary polishing is performed by thepolishing apparatus 10, and a secondary polishing is performed by thepolishing apparatus 11. The second robot 8 picks up the semiconductorsubstrate W on the reversing machine 5, and places the semiconductorsubstrate W on the pusher 10-5 of the polishing apparatus 10. The topring 10-2 attracts the semiconductor substrate W on the pusher 10-5 bysuction, and brings the surface of the plated Cu film 106 of thesemiconductor substrate W into contact with a polishing surface 10-1 aof the polishing table 10-1 under pressure to perform a primarypolishing, shown in FIG. 8. With the primary polishing, the plated Cufilm 106 is basically polished. The polishing surface 10-1 a of thepolishing table 10-1 is composed of foamed polyurethane such as IC1000,or a material having abrasive grains fixed thereto or impregnatedtherein. Upon relative movements of the polishing surface 10-1 a and thesemiconductor substrate W, the plated Cu film 106 is polished.

Silica, alumina, ceria, or the like is used as abrasive grains forperforming polishing of the plated Cu film 106, or as a slurry ejectedfrom a slurry nozzle 10-6. A mainly acidic material for oxidizing Cu,such as hydrogen peroxide, is used as an oxidizing agent. A temperaturecontrolled fluid piping 28 for passing a liquid whose temperature isadjusted to a predetermined value is connected to the interior of thepolishing table 10-1 in order to maintain the temperature of thepolishing table 10-1 at a predetermined value. A temperature regulator10-7 is provided on the slurry nozzle 10-6 in order to maintain thetemperature of the slurry at a predetermined value. Water or the likeused for dressing is also controlled in temperature, although this isnot shown. In this manner, temperature of the polishing table 10-1, thetemperature of the slurry, and the temperature of water or the like usedfor dressing are maintained at predetermined values, whereby thechemical reaction rate is kept constant. Particularly for the polishingtable 10-1, ceramics with high thermal conductivity, such as alumina orSiC, are used.

An eddy current film thickness measuring instrument 10-8 or an opticalfilm thickness measuring instrument 10-9 provided in the polishing table10-1 is used for detection of an end point of the primary polishing.Film thickness measurement of the plated Cu film 106, or surfacedetection of the barrier layer 5 is performed, and when the filmthickness of the plated Cu film 106 reaches zero or when the surface ofthe barrier layer 5 is detected, polishing is judged to have reached itsend point.

After completion of polishing of the plated Cu film 106, thesemiconductor substrate W is returned onto the pusher 10-5 by the topring 10-2. The second robot 8 picks up the semiconductor substrate W,and introduces it into the first cleaning unit 9. At this time, achemical liquid may be ejected toward the face and backside of thesemiconductor substrate W on the pusher 10-5 to remove particlestherefrom or cause particles to be difficult to adhere thereto.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the first cleaning unit. In the firstcleaning unit 9, the face and the backside of the semiconductorsubstrate W are scrubbed with PVA sponge rolls 9-2, 9-2. As cleaningwater ejected from nozzles 9-4, pure water is mainly used, but there maybe used a surface active agent, or a chelating agent, or a mixture ofboth which has been adjusted in pH and conformed to the zeta potentialof copper oxide. The nozzle 9-4 may also be provided with an ultrasonicvibration element 9-3 for applying ultrasonic vibrations to the cleaningwater to be ejected. The reference numeral 9-1 is a rotating roller forrotating the semiconductor substrate W in a horizontal plane.

After completion of cleaning in the first cleaning unit 9, the secondrobot 8 picks up the semiconductor substrate W, and places thesemiconductor substrate W on the pusher 11-5 of the second polishingapparatus 11. The top ring 11-2 attracts the semiconductor substrate Won the pusher 11-5 by suction, and brings the surface of thesemiconductor substrate W, which has the barrier layer 105 formedthereon, into contact with a polishing surface of the polishing table11-1 under pressure to perform the secondary polishing. The constitutionof the polishing table 11-1 and the top ring 11-2 are the same as theconstitution shown in FIG. 8. With this secondary polishing, the barrierlayer 105 is polished. However, there may be a case in which a Cu filmand an oxide film left after the primary polishing are also polished.

A polishing surface 11-1 a of the polishing table 11-1 is composed offoamed polyurethane such as IC1000, or a material having abrasive grainsfixed thereto or impregnated therein. Upon relative movements of thepolishing surface 11-1 a and the semiconductor substrate W, polishing iscarried out. At this time, silica, alumina, ceria, or the like is usedas abrasive grains or a slurry. A chemical liquid is adjusted dependingon the type of the film to be polished.

Detection of an end point of the secondary polishing is performed bymeasuring the film thickness of the barrier layer 105 mainly with theuse of the optical film thickness measuring instrument 10-9 shown inFIG. 8, and detecting the film thickness which has become zero, ordetecting the surface of an insulating film 102 comprising SiO₂.Furthermore, a film thickness measuring instrument with an imageprocessing function is used as the film thickness measuring instrument11-4 provided near the polishing table 11-1. By use of this measuringinstrument, measurement of the oxide film is made, the results arestored as processing records of the semiconductor substrate W, and usedfor judging whether the semiconductor substrate W in which secondarypolishing has been finished can be transferred to a subsequent step ornot. If the end point of the secondary polishing is not reached,repolishing is performed. If over-polishing has been performed beyond aprescribed value due to any abnormality, then the semiconductorsubstrate processing apparatus is stopped to avoid further polishing sothat defective products will not increase.

After completion of the secondary polishing, the semiconductor substrateW is moved to the pusher 11-5 by the top ring 11-2. The second robot 8picks up the semiconductor substrate W on the pusher 11-5. At this time,a chemical liquid may be ejected toward the face and backside of thesemiconductor substrate W on the pusher 11-5 to remove particlestherefrom or cause particles to be difficult to adhere thereto.

The second robot 8 carries the semiconductor substrate W into the secondcleaning unit 7 where cleaning of the semiconductor substrate W isperformed. The constitution of the second cleaning machine 7 is also thesame as the constitution of the first cleaning machine 9 shown in FIG.9. The face of the semiconductor substrate W is scrubbed with the PVAsponge rolls 9-2 using a cleaning liquid to which pure water, a surfaceactive agent, a chelating agent, or a pH regulating agent is added so asto remove particles mainly. A strong chemical liquid such as DHF isejected from a nozzle 9-5 toward the backside of the semiconductorsubstrate W to perform etching of the diffused Cu thereon. If there isno problem of diffusion, scrubbing cleaning is performed with the PVAsponge rolls 9-2 using the same chemical liquid as that used for theface.

After completion of the above cleaning, the second robot 8 picks up thesemiconductor substrate W and transfers it to the reversing machine 6,and the reversing machine 6 reverses the semiconductor substrate W. Thesemiconductor substrate W which has been reversed is picked up by thefirst robot 3, and transferred to the third cleaning unit 4. In thethird cleaning unit 4, megasonic water excited by ultrasonic vibrationsis ejected toward the face of the semiconductor substrate W to clean thesemiconductor substrate W. At this time, the face of the semiconductorsubstrate W may be cleaned with a known pencil type sponge using acleaning liquid comprising pure water to which a surface active agent, achelating agent, or a pH regulating agent is added. Thereafter, thesemiconductor substrate W is dried by spin-drying. The third cleaningunit 4 is provided with a rotatable holding apparatus shown in FIGS. 3through 6.

As described above, if the film thickness has been measured with thefilm thickness measuring instrument 11-4 provided near the polishingtable 11-1, then the semiconductor substrate W is not subjected tofurther process and is accommodated into the cassette placed on theunloading port of the loading and unloading section 1.

When multilayer film measurement is to be made, measurement in a drystate needs to be performed. Thus, the semiconductor substrate W is onceintroduced into the film thickness measuring instrument 13 formeasurement of each film thickness. In the film thickness measuringinstrument 13, the results are stored as processing records of thesemiconductor substrate W, or a judgment as to whether the semiconductorsubstrate W can be brought to a next step or not is made. If the endpoint of polishing is not reached, feedback is given for thesemiconductor substrate W to be processed subsequently. Ifover-polishing has been performed beyond a prescribed value due to anyabnormality, the apparatus is stopped to avoid further polishing so thatdefective products will not increase.

[Parallel Mode Polishing]

In the parallel mode polishing, the semiconductor substrates W havingthe plated Cu film 106 formed by the plated Cu film forming unit 2 arepolished in parallel by the polishing apparatuses 10, 11. The secondrobot 8 picks up the semiconductor substrate W which has been reversedby the reversing machine 5 as stated above, and places the semiconductorsubstrate W on the pusher 10-5 or 11-5. The top ring 10-2 or 11-2attracts the semiconductor substrate W by suction, and brings thesurface of the plated Cu film 106 of the semiconductor substrate W intocontact with the polishing surface of the polishing table 10-1 or 11-1under pressure to perform a primary polishing. The polishing surface10-la or 11-1 a of the polishing table 10-1 or 11-1 is composed offoamed polyurethane such as IC1000, or a material having abrasive grainsfixed thereto or impregnated therein, as stated above. Upon relativemovements of the polishing surface and the semiconductor substrate W,polishing is performed.

Silica, alumina, ceria, or the like is used as abrasive grains or aslurry. A mainly acidic material for oxidizing Cu, such as hydrogenperoxide, is used as an oxidizing agent. The polishing tables 10-1 and11-1, and the slurry or water or the like used for dressing arecontrolled in temperature as stated above to keep the chemical reactionrate constant. Particularly for the polishing tables 10-land 11-1,ceramics with high thermal conductivity, such as alumina or SiC, areused.

Polishing in the polishing table 10-1 or 11-1 is performed by aplurality of steps. In the first step, the plated Cu film 106 ispolished. A main purpose of this polishing is the removal of thedifference in level on the surface of the plated Cu film 106, and aslurry having excellent level difference characteristics is used. Forexample, a slurry capable of reducing an initial level difference of 700nm in a 100 μm line to 20 nm or less is used. At this time, as thesecond step, the pressing load for pressing the semiconductor substrateW is made a half or less of that in the first step, and the polishingconditions for improving the level difference characteristics are added.For detection of the end point in the second step, the eddy current typemeasuring machine 10-8 shown in FIG. 8 is used when 500 nm of the platedCu film 106 is to be left. In the case where 500 nm or less is to beleft or polishing is to be performed up to the surface of the barrierlayer 105, an optical film thickness measuring instrument 10-9 is used.

After polishing of the Cu layers, i.e., the plated Cu film 106 and theseed layer 107, is completed, polishing of the barrier layer 105 isperformed. If the barrier layer 105 cannot be polished usually with theinitially used slurry, its composition needs to be changed. Thus, whenthe second step is completed, the slurry, which has remained on thepolishing surface of the polishing table 10-1 or 11-1 and has been usedin the first and second steps, is removed by a water polish, a waterjet, an atomizer having a mixture of pure water and a gas, or a dresser.Then, the procedure goes to the next step.

FIG. 10 is a view showing the constitution of a cleaning mechanism forcleaning the polishing surface 10-1 a of the polishing table 10-1. Asillustrated, a plurality of (four in the drawing) mixing nozzles 10-11 ato 10-11 d for mixing pure water and a nitrogen gas and ejecting themixture are disposed above the polishing table 10-1. Each of the mixingnozzles 10-11 a to 10-11 d is supplied with a nitrogen gas whosepressure has been controlled by a regulator 16 from a nitrogen gassupply source 14 through an air operator valve 18, and is also suppliedwith pure water whose pressure has been controlled by a regulator 17from a pure water supply source 15 through an air operator valve 19.

The mixed gas and liquid undergo changes in parameters, such as thepressure and temperature of the liquid and/or gas and the nozzle shape,by the nozzles. The liquid to be supplied is transformed by nozzlejetting as follows: {circle over (1)} formation of liquid fineparticles, {circle over (2)} formation of solid fine particles uponsolidification of the liquid, {circle over (3)} gasification of theliquid upon evaporation (hereinafter, {circle over (1)}, {circle over(2)}, {circle over (3)} are called atomization). A mixture of aliquid-based component and a gas component is jetted, with predetermineddirectional properties, toward the polishing surface of the polishingtable 10-1.

When the polishing surface 10-1 a is to be regenerated (dressed) uponrelative movements of the polishing surface 10-1 a and the dresser10-10, a mixed fluid of pure water and a nitrogen gas is ejected fromthe mixing nozzles 10-11 a to 11-11 d toward the polishing surface 10-1a to clean it. The pressure of the nitrogen gas and the pressure of purewater can be set independently. In the present embodiment, manuallydriven regulators are used along with a pure water line and a nitrogenline, but regulators whose setting pressures can be changed based onexternal signals may be used. As a result of cleaning of the polishingsurface 10-1 a using the above-described cleaning mechanism, the slurryremaining on the polishing surface in the first polishing step and thesecond polishing step could be removed by performing cleaning for 5 to20 seconds. A cleaning mechanism of the same constitution as that shownin FIG. 10 is provided for cleaning the polishing surface 11-1 a of thepolishing table 11-1, although this is not shown.

As the abrasive grains used in the slurry for polishing of the barrierlayer 105 in the third step, it is desirable to use the same abrasivegrains as those for polishing of the plated Cu film 106. Moreover, thepH value of the chemical liquid is either on the acid side or on thealkali side, and the preferable conditions are to prevent formation of amixture on the polishing surface. In both cases, the same particles ofsilica were used, and both of the chemical liquid with alkalinity andthe chemical liquid with acidity, as the pH value of the chemicalliquid, obtained good results.

For detection of the end point in the third step, the optical filmthickness measuring instrument 10-9 shown in FIG. 8 is used to detectmainly the film thickness of the SiO₂ oxide film and the remainder ofthe barrier layer 105 and send signals. Furthermore, a film thicknessmeasuring instrument with an image processing function is used as thefilm thickness measuring instrument 10-4 or 11-4 which is provided nearthe polishing tables 10-1 and 11-1. By using of this measuringinstrument, measurement of the oxide film is made, the results arestored as processing records of the semiconductor substrates W, and usedfor judging whether the semiconductor substrate W can be transferred toa subsequent step or not. If the end point of polishing in the thirdstep is not reached, repolishing is performed. If over-polishing hasbeen performed beyond a prescribed value owing to any abnormality, thesemiconductor substrate processing apparatus is stopped to avoid furtherpolishing so that defective products will not increase.

After completion of the third step, the semiconductor substrate W ismoved to the pusher 10-5 or 11-5 by the top ring 10-2 or 11-2, andplaced on the pusher 10-5 or 11-5. The second robot 8 picks up thesemiconductor substrate W on the pusher 10-5 or 11-5. At this time, achemical liquid may be ejected toward the face and backside of thesemiconductor substrate W on the pusher 10-5 or 11-5 to remove particlestherefrom or cause particles to be difficult to adhere thereto.

The second robot 8 carries the semiconductor substrate W into the secondcleaning unit 7 or the first cleaning unit 9 where cleaning of thesemiconductor substrate W is performed. The face of the semiconductorsubstrate W is scrubbed with PVA sponge rolls using a cleaning liquid towhich pure water, a surface active agent, a chelating agent, or a pHregulating agent is added so as to remove particles mainly. A strongchemical liquid such as DHF is ejected from a nozzle 3-5 toward thebackside of the semiconductor substrate W to perform etching of thediffused Cu thereon. If there is no problem of diffusion, scrubbingcleaning is performed with PVA sponge rolls using the same chemicalliquid as that for the face.

After completion of the above cleaning, the second robot 8 picks up thesemiconductor substrate W and transfers it to the reversing machine 6,and the reversing machine 6 reverses the semiconductor substrate W. Thesemiconductor substrate W which has been reversed is picked up by thefirst robot 3, and transferred to the third cleaning unit 4. In thethird cleaning unit 4, megasonic water excited by ultrasonic vibrationsis ejected toward the face of the semiconductor substrate W to performcleaning. At this time, the face may be cleaned with a known pencil typesponge using a cleaning liquid to which pure water, a surface activeagent, a chelating agent, or a pH regulating agent is added. Aftercleaning, the semiconductor substrate W is dried by spin-drying, andthen the semiconductor substrate W is picked up by the first robot 3.

If the film thickness has been measured with the film thicknessmeasuring instrument 10-4 or 11-4 provided near the polishing table 10-1or 11-1 as described above, then the semiconductor substrate W is notsubjected to no further process and is accommodated into the cassette1-1 placed on the unloading port of the loading and unloading section 1.

When multilayer film measurement is to be made, measurement in a drystate needs to be performed. Thus, the semiconductor substrate W is onceintroduced into the film thickness measuring instrument 13 formeasurement of each film thickness. In the film thickness measuringinstrument 13, the results are stored as processing records of thesemiconductor substrate W, or a judgment as to whether the semiconductorsubstrate W can be transferred to a next step or not is made. If the endpoint of polishing is not reached, feedback is given for thesemiconductor substrate W to be processed subsequently. Ifover-polishing has been performed beyond a prescribed value owing to anyabnormality, the apparatus is stopped to avoid further polishing so thatdefective products will not increase.

FIGS. 11A through 11C are views showing a constitution example of thefirst robot 3 and the dry state film thickness measuring instrument 13provided on the hand of the robot. FIG. 11A is a view showing theappearance of the first robot, and FIGS. 11B and 11C are a plan view anda sectional view of the robot hand, respectively. As illustrated, thefirst robot 3 has two hands 3-1, 3-1 at upper and lower sides, and thehands 3-1, 3-1 are attached to front ends of arms 3-2, 3-2,respectively, so as to be swingably movable. The hands 3-1, 3-1 canscoop up the semiconductor substrate W (drop the semiconductor substrateW into the recess) and transfer it to a predetermined location.

A plurality of (four in the drawing) eddy current sensors 13 aconstituting the dry state film thickness measuring instrument 13 areprovided in a recessed surface of the hand 3-1 for the semiconductorsubstrate W, and can measure the film thickness of the semiconductorsubstrate W placed thereon.

FIGS. 12 through 16 are views showing a constitution example of theplated Cu film forming unit 2. FIG. 12 is a view showing a planconstitution of the plated Cu film forming unit, FIG. 13 is a sectionalview taken along line A-A of FIG. 12, FIG. 14 is an enlarged sectionalview of a substrate holding portion and a cathode portion, FIG. 15 is asectional view of an electrode arm portion, and FIG. 16 is a plan viewof a state in which a housing has been removed from the electrode armportion shown in FIG. 15. The plated Cu film forming unit 2, as shown inFIG. 12, is provided with a substrate treatment section 2-1 forperforming plating treatment and its attendant treatment, and a platingliquid tray 2-2 for storing a plating liquid is disposed adjacent to thesubstrate treatment section 2-1. There is also provided an electrode armportion 2-6 having an electrode portion 2-5 which is held at the frontend of an arm 2-4 swingable about a rotating shaft 2-3 and which isswung between the substrate treatment section 2-1 and the plating liquidtray 2-2.

Furthermore, a precoating and recovery arm 2-7, and fixed nozzles 2-8for ejecting pure water or a chemical liquid such as ion water, andfurther a gas or the like toward a semiconductor substrate are disposedlaterally of the substrate treatment section 2-1. In this case, three ofthe fixed nozzles 2-8 are disposed, and one of them is used forsupplying pure water. The substrate treatment section 2-1, as shown inFIGS. 13 and 14, has a substrate holding portion 2-9 for holding asemiconductor substrate W with its surface to be plated facing upward,and a cathode portion 2-10 located above the substrate holding portion2-9 so as to surround a peripheral portion of the substrate holdingportion 2-9. Further, a substantially cylindrical bottomed cup 2-11surrounding the periphery of the substrate holding portion 2-9 forpreventing scatter of various chemical liquids used during treatment isprovided so as to be vertically movable by an air cylinder 2-12.

The substrate holding portion 2-9 is adapted to be raised and lowered bythe air cylinder 2-12 between a lower substrate transfer position A, anupper plating position B, and a pretreatment and cleaning position Cintermediate between these positions. The substrate holding portion 2-9is also adapted to rotate at an arbitrary acceleration and an arbitraryvelocity integrally with the cathode portion 2-10 by a rotating motor2-14 and a belt 2-15. A substrate carry-in and carry-out opening (notshown) is provided in confrontation with the substrate transfer positionA in a frame side surface of the plated Cu film forming unit 2 facingthe first robot 3. When the substrate holding portion 2-9 is raised tothe plating position B, a seal member 2-16 of the cathode portion 2-10and cathode electrodes 2-17 (to be described below) are brought intocontact with the peripheral edge portion of the semiconductor substrateW held by the substrate holding portion 2-9. On the other hand, the cup2-11 has an upper end located below the substrate carry-in and carry-outopening, and when the cup 2-11 ascends, the upper end of the cup 2-11reaches a position above the cathode portion 2-10, as shown by imaginarylines in FIG. 14.

When the substrate holding portion 2-9 has ascended to the platingposition B, the cathode electrodes 2-17 are pressed against theperipheral edge portion of the semiconductor substrate W held by thesubstrate holding portion 2-9 for thereby allowing electric current topass through the semiconductor substrate W. At the same time; an innerperipheral end portion of the seal member 2-16 is brought into contactwith an upper surface of the peripheral edge of the semiconductorsubstrate W under pressure to seal its contact portion in a watertightmanner. As a result, the plating liquid supplied onto the upper surfaceof the semiconductor substrate W is prevented from seeping from the endportion of the semiconductor substrate W, and the plating liquid isprevented from contaminating the cathode electrodes 2-17.

As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, an electrode portion 2-5 of the electrodearm portion 2-6 has a housing 2-18 at a free end of a swing arm 2-4, ahollow support frame 2-19 surrounding the housing 2-18, and an anode2-20 fixed by holding the peripheral edge portion of the anode 2-20between the housing 2-18 and the support frame 2-19. The anode 2-20covers an opening portion of the housing 2-18, and a suction chamber2-21 is formed inside the housing 2-18. A plating liquid introductionpipe 2-28 and a plating liquid discharge pipe (not shown) forintroducing and discharging the plating liquid are connected to thesuction chamber 2-21. Further, many passage holes 2-20 b communicatingwith regions above and below the anode 2-20 are provided over the entiresurface of the anode 2-20.

In this embodiment, a plating liquid impregnated material 2-22comprising a water retaining material and covering the entire surface ofthe anode 2-20 is attached to the lower surface of the anode 2-20. Theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22 is impregnated with the platingliquid to wet the surface of the anode 2-20, thereby preventing a blackfilm from falling onto the plated surface of the substrate, andsimultaneously facilitating escape of air to the outside when theplating liquid is poured between the surface, to be plated, of thesubstrate and the anode 2-20. The plating liquid impregnated material2-22 comprises, for example, a woven fabric, nonwoven fabric, orsponge-like structure comprising at least one material of polyethylene,polypropylene, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, Teflon, polyvinyl alcohol,polyurethane, and derivatives of these materials, or comprises porousceramics.

Attachment of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 to the anode2-20 is performed in the following manner. That is, many fixing pins2-25 each having a head portion at the lower end are arranged such thatthe head portion is provided in the plating liquid impregnated material2-22 so as not to be releasable upward and a shaft portion of the fixingpin pierces the interior of the anode 2-20, and the fixing pins 2-25 areurged upward by U-shaped plate springs 2-26, whereby the plating liquidimpregnated material 2-22 is brought in close contact with the lowersurface of the anode 2-20 by the resilient force of the plate springs2-26 and is attached to the anode 2-20. With this arrangement, even whenthe thickness of the anode 2-20 gradually decreases with the progress ofplating, the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 can be reliablybrought in close contact with the lower surface of the anode 2-20. Thus,air can be prevented from entering between the lower surface of theanode 2-20 and the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 to causepoor plating.

Incidentally, columnar pins made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or PET(polyethylene terephthalate) and having a diameter of, for example,about 2 mm may be arranged from the upper surface side of the anode soas to pierce the anode, and an adhesive may be applied to the front endsurface of each of the pins projecting from the lower surface of theanode to fix the anode to the plating liquid impregnated material.

The anode 2-20 and the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 maybeused in contact with each other, but it is also possible to provide agap between the anode 2-20 and the plating liquid impregnated material2-22, and perform plating treatment while holding the plating liquid inthe gap. This gap is selected from a range of 20 mm or less, but isselected from a range of preferably 0.1 to 10 mm, and more preferably 1to 7 mm. Particularly, when a soluble anode is used as the anode 2-20,the anode 2-20 is dissolved from its lower portion. Thus, as timepasses, the gap between the anode 2-20 and the plating liquidimpregnated material 2-22 enlarges and forms a gap in the range of 0 toabout 20 mm.

The electrode portion 2-5 descends to such a degree that when thesubstrate holding portion 2-9 is located at the plating position B (seeFIG. 14), the gap between the substrate W held by the substrate holdingportion 2-9 and the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 reachesabout 0.1 to 10 mm, preferably 0.3 to 3 mm, and more preferably about0.5 to 1 mm. In this state, the plating liquid is supplied from aplating liquid supply pipe to be filled between the upper surface(surface to be plated) of the substrate W and the anode 2-20 while theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22 is impregnated with the platingliquid. Thus, the surface of the substrate W is plated.

The semiconductor substrate W to be plated is carried into the substrateholding portion 2-9 located at the substrate transfer position A by thehand 3-1 of the first robot 3 (see FIG. 11A), and placed on thesubstrate holding portion 2-9. Then, the cup 2-11 is raised, and thesubstrate holding portion 2-9 is simultaneously raised to thepretreatment and cleaning position C. In this state, the precoating andrecovery arm 2-7 located at a retreat position is moved to a positionopposite to the semiconductor substrate W, and a precoating liquidcomprising, for example, a surface active agent is suppliedintermittently toward the surface, to be plated, of the semiconductorsubstrate W from a precoating nozzle provided at the front end of theprecoating and recovery arm 2-7. At this time, the substrate holdingportion 2-9 is rotating, and hence the precoating liquid spreads overthe entire surface of the semiconductor substrate W. Then, theprecoating and recovery arm 2-7 is returned to the retreat position, andthe rotational speed of the substrate holding portion 2-9 is increasedto remove the precoating liquid on the surface, to be plated, of thesemiconductor substrate W by the centrifugal force for thereby dryingthe surface.

Then, the electrode arm portion 2-6 is swung in a horizontal directionto bring the electrode portion 2-5 from a position above the platingliquid tray 2-2 to a position above a plating position. At thisposition, the electrode portion 2-5 is lowered toward the cathodeportion 2-10. When lowering of the electrode portion 2-5 is completed, aplating voltage is applied to the anode 2-20 and the cathode portion2-10, and the plating liquid is supplied to the interior of theelectrode portion 2-5 to supply the plating liquid to the plating liquidimpregnated material 2-22 through the plating liquid supply portspiercing the anode 2-20. At this time, the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 does not contact the surface, to be plated, of thesemiconductor substrate W, but approaches it at a distance of about 0.1to 10 mm, preferably 0.3 to 3 mm, and more preferably about 0.5 to 1 mm.

When the supply of the plating liquid continues, the plating liquidcontaining Cu ions, which has seeped out of the plating liquidimpregnated material 2-22, is filled into the gap between the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22 and the surface, to be plated, of thesemiconductor substrate W to apply Cu plating to the surface of thesemiconductor substrate W. At this time, the substrate holding portion2-9 may be rotated at a low speed.

When the plating treatment is completed, the electrode arm portion 2-6is raised and then swung to return the electrode portion 2-5 to theposition above the plating liquid tray 2-2 and to lower the electrodeportion 2-5 to the ordinary position. Then, the precoating and recoveryarm 2-7 is moved from the retreat position to the position opposite tothe semiconductor substrate W, and lowered to recover the remainder ofthe plating liquid on the semiconductor substrate W by a plating liquidrecovery nozzle (not shown). After recovery of the remainder of theplating liquid is completed, the precoating and recovery arm 2-7 isreturned to the retreat position, and pure water is supplied toward thecentral portion of the semiconductor substrate W. At the same time, thesubstrate holding portion 2-9 is rotated at an increased speed toreplace the plating liquid on the face of the semiconductor substrate Wwith pure water.

After completion of the above rinsing, the substrate holding portion 2-9is lowered from the plating position B to the treatment and cleaningposition C. Then, while pure water is supplied from the fixed nozzle2-8, the substrate holding portion 2-9 and the cathode portion 2-10 arerotated to perform washing with water. At this time, the seal member2-16 and the cathode electrodes 2-17 can also be cleaned, simultaneouslywith the semiconductor substrate W, by means of pure water directlysupplied to the cathode 2-10, or pure water scattered from the surfaceof the semiconductor substrate W.

After washing with water is completed, supply of pure water from thefixed nozzle 2-8 is stopped, and the rotational speed of the substrateholding portion 2-9 and the cathode portion 2-10 is further increased toremove pure water on the face of the semiconductor substrate W bycentrifugal force and to dry the face of the semiconductor substrate W.The seal member 2-16 and the cathode electrode 2-17 are also dried atthe same time. Upon completion of the drying, the rotation of thesubstrate holding portion 2-9 and the cathode portion 2-10 is stopped,and the substrate holding portion 2-9 is lowered to the substratetransfer position A.

FIGS. 17 and 18 show another embodiment of an anode 2-20 and a platingliquid impregnated material 2-22. That is, in this example, the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22 is composed of porous ceramics such asalumina, SiC, mullite, zirconia, titania or cordierite, or a hard porousmaterial such as a sintered compact of polypropylene or polyethylene, ora composite material comprising these materials. In case of thealumina-based ceramics, for example, the ceramics with a pore diameterof 30 to 200 μm, a porosity of 20 to 95%, and a thickness of about 5 to20 mm, preferably 8 to 15 mm, are used.

The plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 has a flange portion 2-22 aprovided at the upper portion thereof, and is fixed by holding thisflange portion 2-22 a between the housing 2-18 and the support frame2-19 (see FIG. 15). The anode 2-20 is placed and held on the uppersurface of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22. In thisembodiment, the anode 2-20 of various shapes, such as porous ones ormesh-like ones may be placed.

As described above, in the case where the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 is composed of a porous material, the electricalresistance of the interior of the plating liquid impregnated material2-22 can be increased by the plating liquid which has complicatedlyentered the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22. Thus, thethickness of the plated film can be uniformized, and the generation ofparticles can be prevented. That is, the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 is a kind of high-resistance member comprising porousceramics, and is thus preferable for achieving uniformity of the platedfilm thickness. Furthermore, the anode 2-20 is placed and held on theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22. Thus, even when the side ofthe lower surface of the anode 2-20 which is in contact with the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22 is dissolved with the progress ofplating, the distance between the lower surface of the anode 2-20 andthe substrate W can be kept constant by the own weight of the anode 2-20without the use of a jig for fixing the anode 2-20, and air accumulationcaused by air entering therein can be prevented.

Incidentally, a gap may be provided between the anode 2-20 and theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22, and plating treatment may beperformed with the plating liquid being held in this gap. This gap isselected from the range of 20 mm or less, preferably 0.1 to 10 mm, andmore preferably 1 to 7 mm.

FIG. 19 is an electrical equivalent circuit diagram of the apparatusshown in FIGS. 17 and 18.

When a predetermined voltage is applied by a plating power source 2-37between the anode 2-20 (anodic electrode) submerged in the platingliquid and the conductive layer 1 a (cathodic electrode) of thesubstrate W to form a plated film on the surface of the conductive layer1 a, the following resistance components exist in this circuit:

-   -   R1: Power source wire resistance between power source and anode,        and various contact resistances    -   R2: Polarization resistance at anode    -   R3: Plating liquid resistance    -   R4: Polarization resistance at cathode (plated surface)    -   Rp: Resistance value of high resistance structure    -   R5: Resistance of conductive layer    -   R6: Power source wire resistance between cathode potential        lead-in contact and power source, and various contact        resistances

The resistance value Rp of a high resistance structure, which is theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22, is 0.01 Ω or more, preferably0.01 to 2 Ω, more preferably 0.03 to 1 Ω, and even more preferably 0.05to 0.5 Ω, for example, in the case of a 200 mm wafer. The resistancevalue of this high resistance structure is measured by the followingprocedure. First, in the plating apparatus, a direct current (I) of apredetermined value is flowed between both electrodes comprising theanode 2-20 and the substrate W spaced by a predetermined distance toperform plating, and the voltage (V1) of the direct current power sourceat this time is measured. Then, in the same plating apparatus, the highresistance structure of a predetermined thickness is placed between bothelectrodes, and a direct current (I) of the same value is flowed toperform plating. At this time, the voltage (V2) of the direct currentpower source is measured. With this method, the resistance value Rp ofthe high resistance structure can be calculated from Rp=(V2−V1)/I.

In this case, the purity of copper constituting the anode 2-20 ispreferably 99.99% or more. The distance between the two electrode platescomprising the anode 2-20 and the semiconductor substrate W ispreferably in the range of 5 to 25 mm in the case of the substratehaving a diameter of 200 mm, and is preferably in the range of 15 to 75mm in the case of the substrate having a diameter of 300 mm. Theresistance R5 of the conductive layer la on the substrate W can bedetermined by measuring the resistance value between the outer peripheryand the center of the substrate with the use of a tester, or calculatedfrom the specific resistance of the material of the conductive layer 1 aand the thickness of the conductive layer 1 a.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, a plating liquidintroduction pipe 2-28 of a straight-line shape, which has a platingliquid introduction passage 2-28 a therein and extends in a diametricaldirection, is installed on the upper surface of the anode 2-20. In theanode 2-20, plating liquid pouring holes 2-20 a are provided atpositions aligned with plating liquid introduction holes 2-28 b providedin the plating liquid introduction pipe 2-28. Many passage holes 2-20 bare also provided in the anode 2-20.

At positions approximately corresponding to the plating liquid pouringholes 2-20 a of the anode 2-20, the plating liquid reaches the uppersurface (surface to be plated) of the substrate W from the lower surfaceof the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22, thereby forming platingliquid columns 2-30 which bridge the plating liquid impregnated material2-22 and the surface, to be plated, of the substrate W. By continuingthe supply of the plating liquid, the plating liquid columns 2-30 aregradually grown, or connected to each other. Then, a flow of the platingliquid Q, which advances in a direction perpendicular to the platingliquid introduction pipe 2-28 and spreads over the entire surface of thesurface, to be plated, of the substrate W, occurs as shown in FIG. 20.

As a result, air bubbles B entrained by this flow of the plating liquidQ are pushed outward, and a front line Q1 of the flow of the platingliquid Q is nearly a straight line, so that the plating liquid Q doesnot enclose air. Thus, the air bubbles are prevented from remaining inthe plating liquid filled between the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 and the surface, to be plated, of the substrate W.

Here, as shown in FIG. 21A, the plating liquid introduction pipe 2-28which has blade portions extending cruciformly in directionsperpendicular to each other and which has plating liquid introductionholes 2-28 b at predetermined positions along the longitudinal directionof each blade portion may be used, and the anode (not shown) which hasplating liquid pouring holes 2-20 a at positions corresponding to theplating liquid introduction holes 2-28 b may be used. In this case, inthe same manner as stated above, plating liquid columns bridging theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22 and the surface, to be plated,of the substrate W are formed at positions approximately correspondingto the plating liquid pouring holes 2-20 a of the anode. As the supplyof the plating liquid continues, the plating liquid columns graduallygrow. Then, a flow of the plating liquid Q, which spreads radially inquadrants defined by the plating liquid introduction pipe 2-28, isgenerated and the plating liquid Q spreads over the entire surface ofthe surface, to be plated, of the substrate W.

As shown in FIG. 21B, a similar flow of the plating liquid Q isgenerated, when the plating liquid introduction pipe 2-28 is placed in acircumferential manner and plating liquid introduction holes 2-28 b areprovided at predetermined positions. The plating liquid introductionholes 2-28 b of the plating liquid introduction pipe 2-28 are oftenprovided at equal pitch and with equal diameter, but discharge of theliquid may be controlled by adjusting the pitch of the holes and thediameter of the holes.

According to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 17 through 20, at positionsapproximately corresponding to the plating liquid pouring holes 2-20 aof the anode 2-20, the plating liquid reaches the upper surface (surfaceto be plated) of the substrate W from the lower surface of the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22, thereby forming the plating liquidcolumns 2-30 which bridge the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22and the surface, to be plated, of the substrate W. At this time, whenthe plating liquid flows inside the plating liquid impregnated material2-22, the plating liquid is slightly diffused along its flow direction,thereby alleviating damage to the seed layer 107 (see FIG. 1A) uponarrival of the plating liquid at the substrate W, namely, alleviatingthe phenomenon of the seed layer 107 due to local application of a jet,and thus contributing to the uniformity of the film thickness during asubsequent plating step. By providing the distribution of the passageholes 2-20 b over the surface so as to be dense in the central portionand sparse in the peripheral portion, the plating liquid spreadsuniformly.

As indicated by imaginary lines in FIG. 18, after the plating liquidreaches the upper surface (surface to be plated) of the substrate W fromthe lower surface of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 toform the plating liquid columns 2-30, the substrate W, for example, maybe instantaneously raised to bring the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 and the substrate W close to each other instantaneously.Further, it is possible to form the plating liquid columns 2-30similarly while bending the substrate in a concave form under slightpressure on the edge of the substrate, and then to release the pressure,thereby restoring the substrate to the original shape. With thismeasure, the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 and the substrateW may be instantaneously brought close to each other.

When the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 has a large thicknessand a high density (low porosity), for example, resistance becomes largewhen the plating liquid flows inside the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22. As a result, a predetermined amount of the plating liquiddoes not flow out of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22, andbinding of the plating liquid columns 2-30 is disturbed. Even if air isdragged at this time, a rapid outward flow of the plating liquid can begenerated to drive out air bubbles together with the plating liquid, andthe supply of the plating liquid between the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 and the substrate W can be performed in a short time bybringing the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 and the substrateW instantaneously close to each other.

Contact between the plating liquid and the seed layer 107 (see FIG. 1A)in a non-energized state induces a decrease in the seed layer 107. Evenin an energized state, the failure of the plating liquid to spread onthe surface of the substrate W in a short time causes variations in thefilm thickness at the initial stage of plating, and impairs theuniformity of subsequent plated film thickness. However, these troublescan be prevented by supplying the plating liquid between the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22 and the substrate W in a short time.

Further, as shown in FIG. 17, the plating liquid may be supplied fromthe plating liquid pouring holes 2-20 a to the plating liquidimpregnated material 2-22 during plating treatment to supply the platingliquid between the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 and thesurface, to be plated, of the substrate W. Simultaneously, the platingliquid in the same amount as the amount of the poured plating liquid canbe sucked and discharged via the passage holes 2-20 b through a platingliquid discharge pipe (not shown) connected to the passage holes 2-20 b.

The plating liquid is stirred in this manner during plating treatment,whereby it becomes possible to remove air bubbles which have not beenwithdrawn during liquid filling, and air bubbles which have occurredduring plating treatment after liquid filling.

In the present plating apparatus, the spacing between the surface, to beplated, of the substrate W and the anode 2-20 is small, so that a smallamount of the plating liquid to be used is sufficient. However, sincethe additives and ions in the plating liquid become in limited amounts,in order to perform efficient plating in a short time, it is necessaryto distribute the additives and the like uniformly in the platingliquid. In this respect, according to the present embodiment, becausethe plating liquid is stirred during plating treatment, it is possibleto perform plating in such a state that the additives and ions aredistributed uniformly. In the present plating apparatus, plating isapplied onto the semiconductor substrate W by connecting thesemiconductor substrate W to the cathode and connecting the anode to thepositive electrode. By applying a reverse voltage, on the other hand,etching of the plated film formed on the semiconductor substrate W canbe carried out. After plating for filling the hole is substantiallycompleted (40 to 400 seconds), a feed voltage is applied for a shorttime (e.g., 1 to 60 seconds), and then a forward voltage is appliedagain (50 seconds, 0.5μ). By applying feed voltage, the action of theadditives is suppressed, and formation of a protuberance only on thehole is prevented, so that uniformity of the plated film can beachieved.

FIG. 19 shows another embodiment, and in this embodiment, a platingliquid introduction pipe 2-28 is provided with pipes 2-32 communicatingwith the plating liquid introduction pipe 2-28 per se, the pipes 2-32are inserted into plating liquid introduction holes 2-28 b of the anode2-20, and the front ends of the pipes 2-32 are brought into contact withthe surface of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22. That is, inthis embodiment, the plating liquid can be supplied to the surface ofthe plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 without causing the platingliquid to contact the anode 2-20 at all. The plating liquid introductionpipe 2-28 and the pipes 2-32 are integrally formed by a synthetic resinof a material which is not affected at all by the plating liquid. Thereference numeral 2-31 denotes a holding member for holding thesubstrate W.

The plating liquid, which has been directly supplied to the surface ofthe plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 from the plating liquidintroduction pipe 2-28 through the pipes 2-32, reaches the face of thesubstrate W while the plating liquid is slightly diffusing in theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22, and the plating liquid forms aplurality of circular plating liquid columns 2-30 between the substrateW and the surface of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22, andthe plural plating liquid columns 2-30 bind to each other on thesubstrate W, thus filling on the face of the substrate W with theplating liquid.

Even when this plating step is repeated, the inner diameter of the frontend of the pipe 2-32 does not increase with the passage of time, andhence the ideal plating liquid columns 2-30 do not collapse with thepassage of time. Consequently, engulfment of air due to disturbance ofbinding of the plating liquid columns 2-30 does not take place. Airbubbles are not accumulated between the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 and the substrate W, and the plated film thickness doesnot become nonuniform.

FIG. 23 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electroplatingapparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. Thiselectroplating apparatus differs from that in the embodiment shown inFIG. 22 in that instead of forming pipes 2-32 integrally with a platingliquid introduction pipe 2-28, separately prepared pipes 2-33 areinserted into plating liquid introduction holes 2-28 b of the anode2-20. In this case also, the pipes 2-33 are composed of a material whichis not affected at all by the plating liquid, and the front ends (lowerends) of the pipes 2-33 are brought into contact with the upper surfaceof the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22.

Even with this constitution, the plating liquid does not directlycontact the anode 2-20 in the same manner as the embodiment shown inFIG. 22. Even when the plating step is performed repeatedly, the innerdiameter of the front end of the pipe 2-33 does not increase with thepassage of time. Thus, the plating liquid columns 2-30 supplied from theplating liquid impregnated material 2-22 do not collapse with thepassage of time, but can be always kept in the ideal state, andengulfment of air does not occur.

FIG. 24 is a view showing a schematic constitution of an electroplatingapparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. Thiselectroplating apparatus differs from that in the embodiment shown inFIG. 22 in that instead of forming pipes 2-32 integrally with a platingliquid introduction pipe 2-28, separately prepared pipes 2-33 areinserted into plating liquid introduction holes 2-28 b of the anode 2-20and electrolytic solution passage portions 2-34 provided in the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22. In this case also, the pipes 2-33 arecomposed of a material which is not affected at all by the platingliquid.

With this constitution, even when the plating step is performedrepeatedly, the inner diameter of the front end of the pipe 2-33 doesnot increase with the passage of time, and hence the ideal platingliquid columns 2-30 do not collapse with the passage of time.Consequently, engulfment of air due to disturbance of binding of theplating liquid columns 2-30 does not take place, and air bubbles are notaccumulated between the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 and thesubstrate W, and the plated film thickness does not become nonuniform.At the same time, the pipes 2-33 protrude into the plating liquidimpregnated material 2-22, and hence there is a decrease in theresistance when the plating liquid passes through the plating liquidimpregnated material 2-22. Even if the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22 having a large thickness or a high density (low porosity)is used, an appropriate amount of the plating liquid is supplied frompredetermined positions of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22.As a result, engulfment of air due to disturbance of binding of theplating liquid columns 2-30 does not take place, and air bubbles are notaccumulated between the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 and thesubstrate W, and thus the plated film thickness does not becomenonuniform.

FIG. 25 is a modified example of the embodiment shown in FIG. 22.

In the plating apparatus shown in FIG. 22, the electric field on thesurface, to be processed, of the substrate can be controlled by at leastone of adjustment of the external form of the plating liquid impregnatedmaterial 2-22, adjustment of the internal structure of the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22, and adjustment by mounting of a memberwith different electric conductivity. In this manner, if the state ofthe electric field on the surface, to be processed, of the substrate ispositively controlled to the desired state, a processed state byelectrolytic treatment of the substrate to be processed can be made aprocessed state with desired distribution on the surface. In caseelectrolytic treatment is plating treatment, the thickness of a platedfilm formed on the substrate to be processed can be uniformized, or anarbitrary distribution can be imparted to the thickness of the platedfilm formed on the substrate to be processed.

The adjustment of the external form shape can be made by adjustment ofthe thickness of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22,adjustment of the shape of the plating liquid impregnated material 2-22on the plane, or the like.

The plating liquid impregnated material 2-22 is composed of a poroussubstance. Adjustment of the internal structure of the porous substanceis performed by adjustment of the pore diameter distribution of theporous substance, adjustment of porosity distribution, adjustment offlexing rate distribution, or adjustment of a combination of materials.

The adjustment by mounting of a member with different electricconductivity is performed by adjusting the shielding area of the platingliquid impregnated material 2-22 with the use of a member with differentelectric conductivity.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 25, a band-like insulating member 2-35is wound around an outer peripheral side surface of a porous ceramicplate (porous substance) 2-22 so as to surround the outer peripheralside surface. As the material of the insulating member 2-35, anextensible material such as fluororubber is used.

A plating liquid, which has been supplied under pressure from a platingliquid introduction pipe 2-28 to the porous ceramic plate (platingliquid impregnated material) 2-22 through plating liquid introductionholes 2-28 b of an anode 2-20, permeates the interior of the porousceramic plate 2-22 to fill the interior of the porous ceramic plate 2-22with the plating liquid. Then, the plating liquid is discharged from thelower surface of the porous ceramic plate 2-22 to fill a space betweenthe substrate W and the porous ceramic plate 2-22 with the platingliquid. Introduction of the plating liquid may be performed from a gapbetween a lip seal 2-16 and an end surface of the porous ceramic plate2-22. In this case, neither the plating liquid introduction pipe 2-28nor the plating liquid introduction holes 2-28 b of the anode 2-20 arenecessary.

When a predetermined voltage is applied between the anode 2-20 and thesubstrate W to flow a direct current, plating (e.g., copper plating) isapplied on the entire surface of the conductive layer of the substrateW. According to the present embodiment, the porous ceramic plate 2-22 isinterposed between the anode 2-20 and the substrate W, and hence thereis minimal influence due to the difference among the resistance valuesof the respective portions according to the difference in the distancefrom contacts 2-17 on the surface of the substrate W as stated above.Consequently, substantially uniform plating (e.g., copper plating) isapplied on the entire surface of the conductive layer of the substrateW.

However, portions in the vicinity of the outer peripheral portion closeto the contacts 2-17 are still high in current density, and tend to bethicker in plated film thickness than other portions.

In the present embodiment, therefore, an insulating member 2-35 is woundaround the outer peripheral side surface of the porous ceramic plate2-22 to prevent an electric current from concentrating at an area nearthe outer peripheral portion of the substrate W, as shown by dottedlines in FIG. 25, thereby decreasing the current density at such areaand making it nearly equal to the current density directed toward theother portions of the substrate W.

Here, the following constitution may be adopted in an electrolytictreatment apparatus in which an electrolytic solution is filled betweena substrate, to be treated, having contacts which are brought in contactwith one of an anode and a cathode, and the other electrode opposite tothe substrate to perform electrolytic treatment of the substrate. A highresistance structure having electric conductivity smaller than theelectric conductivity of the electrolytic solution is provided in atleast part of the electrolytic solution, the high resistance structurehas an outer periphery held by a holding member, and a seal member isprovided between the high resistance structure and the holding memberfor preventing the electrolytic solution from leaking from this area andpreventing an electric current from flowing.

[Embodiment Using Seal Member]

FIG. 26 is a schematic view of an essential part showing portions in thevicinity of the outer peripheral portion of a porous ceramic plate 2-22of an electroplating apparatus having the same structure as that shownin FIG. 25. However, the insulating member 2-35 shown in FIG. 25 is notshown in this electroplating apparatus. In this electroplatingapparatus, since a gap between a holding member 2-18 and the porousceramic plate 2-22 is not sealed, a plating liquid flows out of theanode 2-20 through this gap to thus form a passage for an electriccurrent as shown by an arrow. Since this current passage is such apassage that current does not pass through the interior of the porousceramic plate 2-22, its resistance value is small. Thus, the currentdensity becomes so high that control for decreasing the plated filmthickness in the vicinity of the outer peripheral portion of thesubstrate W may be impossible.

In this embodiment, therefore, a seal member 2-36 is provided betweenthe porous ceramic plate 2-22 and the holding member 2-18, as shown inFIGS. 27A and 27B. With this arrangement, leakage of the plating liquidfrom this portion is prevented so that the plated film thickness in thevicinity of the outer peripheral portion of the substrate W can becontrolled so as to be small.

The seal member 2-36 in this embodiment has an inverted L-shaped crosssection, and is composed of an insulating material, and thus the sealmember 2-36 also serves as the insulating member shown in FIG. 25. Theseal member 2-36, as its cross section is shown in FIG. 27B, may beconstructed by attaching, as separate parts, an annular seal memberportion 2-36 a for sealing the portion at which the holding member 2-18and the lower surface of the porous ceramic plate 2-22 are in contactwith each other, and an insulating member portion 2-36 b exhibiting thesame function as the band-like insulating member 2-35 shown in FIG. 25.

The seal member 2-36, needless to say, can be applied to the respectiveembodiments other than the embodiment in FIG. 25. Specifically, moreeffective electric field control can be performed by jointly using theseal member 2-36 for preventing leakage of the plating liquid from aportion between the outer peripheral side surface of the high resistancestructure 4 and the holding member 2-18, and electric field controlmeans according to other various embodiments.

FIG. 28 is a view showing another plan layout constitution of thesubstrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. InFIG. 28, portions denoted by the same reference numerals as those inFIG. 7 show the same or corresponding portions. The same is true ofFIGS. 29 and 30. In the present substrate polishing apparatus, a pusherindexer 25 is disposed close to a first polishing apparatus 10 and asecond polishing apparatus 11, substrate placing tables 21, 22 aredisposed close to a third cleaning unit 4 and a plated Cu film formingunit 2, respectively, and a robot 23 (hereinafter referred to as secondrobot 23) is disposed close to a first cleaning unit 9 and the thirdcleaning unit 4. Further, a robot 24 (hereinafter referred to as thirdrobot 24) is disposed close to a second cleaning unit 7 and the platedCu film forming unit 2, and a dry state film thickness measuringinstrument 13 is disposed close to a loading and unloading section 1 anda first robot 3.

In the substrate processing apparatus of the above constitution, thefirst robot 3 takes out a semiconductor substrate W from a cassette 1-1placed on the load port of the loading and unloading section 1. Afterthe film thicknesses of a barrier layer 105 and a seed layer 107 aremeasured with the dry state film thickness measuring instrument 13, thefirst robot 3 places the semiconductor substrate W on the substrateplacing table 21. In the case where the dry state film thicknessmeasuring instrument 13 is provided on the hand 3-1 of the first robot 3as shown in FIGS. 11B and 11C, the film thicknesses are measuredthereon, and the substrate is placed on the substrate placing table 21.The second robot 23 transfers the semiconductor substrate W on thesubstrate placing table 21 to the plated Cu film forming unit 2 in whicha plated Cu film 106 is formed. After formation of the plated Cu film106, the film thickness of the plated Cu film 106 is measured with abefore-plating and after-plating film thickness measuring instrument 12.Then, the second robot 23 transfers the semiconductor substrate W to thepusher indexer 25 and loads it thereon.

[Serial Mode]

In the serial mode, a top ring head 10-2 holds the semiconductorsubstrate W on the pusher indexer 25 by suction, transfers it to apolishing table 10-1, and presses the semiconductor substrate W againsta polishing surface on the polishing table 10-1 to perform polishing.Detection of the end point of polishing is performed by the same methodas described above. The semiconductor substrate W after completion ofpolishing is transferred to the pusher indexer 25 by the top ring head10-2, and loaded thereon. The second robot 23 takes out thesemiconductor substrate W, and carries it into the first cleaning unit 9for cleaning. Then, the semiconductor substrate W is transferred to thepusher indexer 25, and loaded thereon.

A top ring head 11-2 holds the semiconductor substrate W on the pusherindexer 25 by suction, transfers it to a polishing table 11-1, andpresses the semiconductor substrate W against a polishing surface on thepolishing table 11-1 to perform polishing. Detection of the end point ofpolishing is performed by the same method as described above. Thesemiconductor substrate W after completion of polishing is transferredto the pusher indexer 25 by the top ring head 11-2, and loaded thereon.The third robot 24 picks up the semiconductor substrate W, and its filmthickness is measured with a film thickness measuring instrument 26.Then, the semiconductor substrate W is carried into the second cleaningunit 7 for cleaning. Thereafter, the semiconductor substrate W iscarried into the third cleaning unit 4, where it is cleaned and thendried by spin-drying. Then, the semiconductor substrate W is picked upby the third robot 24, and placed on the substrate placing table 22.

[Parallel Mode]

In the parallel mode, the top ring head 10-2 or 11-2 holds thesemiconductor substrate W on the pusher indexer 25 by suction, transfersit to the polishing table 10-1 or 11-1, and presses the semiconductorsubstrate W against the polishing surface on the polishing table 10-1 or11-1 to perform polishing. After measurement of the film thickness, thethird robot 24 picks up the semiconductor substrate W, and places it onthe substrate placing table 22.

The first robot 3 transfers the semiconductor substrate W on thesubstrate placing table 22 to the dry state film thickness measuringinstrument 13. After the film thickness is measured, the semiconductorsubstrate W is returned to the cassette 1-1 of the loading and unloadingsection 1.

FIG. 29 is a view showing another plan layout constitution of thesubstrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. Thepresent substrate processing apparatus is such a substrate processingapparatus which forms a seed layer 107 and a plated Cu film 106 on asemiconductor substrate W having no seed layer 107 formed thereon, andpolishes and removes these films to form interconnects. The presentsubstrate processing apparatus differs from the substrate processingapparatus shown in FIG. 7 in that a seed layer forming unit 27 isprovided instead of the third cleaning unit 4 shown in FIG. 2.

A cassette 1-1 accommodating the semiconductor substrates W beforeformation of the seed layer 107 is placed on a load port of a loadingand unloading section 1. The semiconductor substrate W before formationof the seed layer 107 is taken out from the cassette 1-1 by a firstrobot 3, and the seed layer (Cu seed layer) 107 is formed by the seedlayer forming unit 27. The seed layer 107 is formed by electrolessplating, and after its formation, heat is applied to make the adhesionof the seed layer 107 higher. The film thickness of the seed layer 107is measured with a before-plating and after-plating film thicknessmeasuring instrument 12.

The semiconductor substrate is taken out by the first robot 3, and theplated Cu film 106 is formed by a plated Cu film forming unit 2.Formation of the plated Cu film 106 is performed by carrying outhydrophilic treatment of the face of the semiconductor substrate W, andthen Cu plating. Then, rinsing or cleaning is carried out. If there issome time to spare, drying may be performed. When the semiconductorsubstrate W is taken out by the first robot 3, the film thickness of theplated Cu film 106 is measured with the before-plating and after-platingfilm thickness measuring instrument 12. The method of measurement is thesame as that of the film thickness measurement of the seed layer 107,and the results of its measurement are recorded as record data on thesemiconductor substrate W and are also used for judgment of anabnormality of the plated Cu film forming unit 2. After measurement ofthe film thickness, the first robot 3 transfers the semiconductorsubstrate W to a reversing machine 5 in which the semiconductorsubstrate W is turned over.

Then, a second robot 8 picks up the semiconductor substrate W from thereversing machine 5, and places it on a pusher 10-5 or 11-5. Then, thetop ring 10-2 or 11-2 holds the semiconductor substrate W by suction,transfers it onto a polishing table 10-1 or 11-1, and presses it againsta polishing surface on the polishing table 10-1 or 11-1 to performpolishing. This polishing is substantially the same as the treatment inthe steps 1 to 3 in the parallel mode polishing by the substrateprocessing apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and thus its explanation isomitted.

After completion of polishing, the top ring 10-2 or 11-2 returns thesemiconductor substrate W to the pusher 10-5 or 11-5. The second robot 8picks up the semiconductor substrate W, and carries it into a firstcleaning unit 9. At this time, a chemical liquid may be ejected towardthe face and backside of the semiconductor substrate W on the pusher10-5 or 11-5 to remove particles therefrom or cause particles to bedifficult to adhere thereto.

In the first cleaning unit 9, the face and the backside of thesemiconductor substrate W are scrubbed and cleaned. The face of thesemiconductor substrate W is scrubbed and cleaned mainly for removal ofparticles with a PVA roll sponge using cleaning water comprising purewater to which a surface active agent, a chelating agent, or a pHregulator is added. A strong chemical liquid such as DHF is ejectedtoward the backside-of the semiconductor substrate W to etch diffusedCu. If there is no problem of Cu diffusion, the backside of thesemiconductor substrate W is scrubbed and cleaned with a PVA roll spongeusing the same chemical liquid as that for the face.

After cleaning, the second robot 8 picks up the semiconductor substrateW, and transfers it to a reversing machine 6 where the semiconductorsubstrate W is reversed. The semiconductor substrate W is picked upagain by the second robot 8, and carried into a second cleaning unit 7by the second robot 8. In the second cleaning unit 7, megasonic water towhich ultrasonic vibrations are applied is ejected toward the face ofthe semiconductor substrate W to clean the face. At this time, the facemay be cleaned with a pencil type sponge using a cleaning liquid towhich pure water, a surface active agent, a chelating agent, or a pHregulator is added. Thereafter, the semiconductor substrate W is driedby spin-drying.

Then, the second robot 8 picks up the semiconductor substrate W, andtransfers it to the reversing machine 6 as it is. The first robot 3picks up the semiconductor substrate W on the reversing machine 6. Inthe case where the film thickness has been measured with a filmthickness measuring instrument 10-4 or 11-4 provided near the polishingtable 10-1 or 11-1, the semiconductor substrate W is received by thecassette 1-1 placed in the unload port of the loading and unloadingsection 1. In the case where the film thicknesses of multilayer filmsare to be measured, measurement in a dry state needs to be performed.Thus, the film thickness is measured once with a dry state filmthickness measuring instrument 13. In this case, if the dry state filmthickness measuring instrument 13 is provided on the hand 3-1 of thefirst robot 3 as shown in FIGS. 11B and 11C, the film thickness can bemeasured on the robot hand. The results of the film thicknessmeasurement are retained as processing records of the semiconductorsubstrate W, or a judgment as to whether the semiconductor substrate Wcan be delivered to a next step or not is made.

FIG. 30 is a view showing another plan layout constitution of thesubstrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. Thepresent substrate processing apparatus, as is the case with thesubstrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 29, is such a substrateprocessing apparatus which forms a seed layer 107 and a plated Cu film106 on a semiconductor substrate W having no seed layer 107 formedthereon, and polishes these films to form interconnects.

In the present substrate processing apparatus, a pusher indexer 25 isdisposed close to a first polishing apparatus 10 and a second polishingapparatus 11, substrate placing tables 21, 22 are disposed close to asecond cleaning unit 7 and a seed layer forming unit 27, respectively,and a robot 23 (hereinafter referred to as second robot 23) is disposedclose to the seed layer forming unit 27 and a plated Cu film formingunit 2. Further, a robot 24 (hereinafter referred to as third robot 24)is disposed close to a first cleaning unit 9 and the second cleaningunit 7, and a dry state film thickness measuring instrument 13 isdisposed close to a loading and unloading section 1 and a first robot 3.

The first robot 3 takes out a semiconductor substrate W having a barrierlayer 105 thereon from a cassette 1-1 placed on the load port of theloading and unloading section 1, and places it on the substrate placingtable 21. Then, the second robot 23 transports the semiconductorsubstrate W to the seed layer forming unit 27 where a seed layer 107 isformed. The seed layer 107 is formed by electroless plating. The secondrobot 23 enables the semiconductor substrate having the seed layer 107formed thereon to be measured in thickness of the seed layer 107 by thebefore-plating and after-plating film thickness measuring instrument 12.After measurement of the film thickness, the semiconductor substrate iscarried into the plated Cu film forming unit 2 where a plated Cu film106 is formed.

After formation of the plated Cu film 106, its film thickness ismeasured, and the semiconductor substrate is transferred to a pusherindexer 25. A top ring 10-2 or 11-2 holds the semiconductor substrate Won the pusher indexer 25 by suction, and transfers it to a polishingtable 10-1 or 11-1 to perform polishing. After polishing, the top ring10-2 or 11-2 transfers the semiconductor substrate W to a film thicknessmeasuring instrument 10-4 or 11-4 to measure the film thickness. Then,the top ring 10-2 or 11-2 transfers the semiconductor substrate W to thepusher indexer 25, and places it thereon.

Then, the third robot 24 picks up the semiconductor substrate W from thepusher indexer 25, and carries it into the first cleaning unit 9. Thethird robot 24 picks up the cleaned semiconductor substrate W from thefirst cleaning unit 9, carries it into the second cleaning unit 7, andplaces the cleaned and dried semiconductor substrate on the substrateplacing table 22. Then, the first robot 3 picks up the semiconductorsubstrate W, and transfers it to the dry state film thickness measuringinstrument 13 in which the film thickness is measured, and the firstrobot 3 carries it into the cassette 1-1 placed on the unload port ofthe loading and unloading section 1.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the seed layer 107 and theplated Cu film 106 have been formed by the substrate processingapparatus having the constitution shown in FIG. 29 is shown. Accordingto the substrate processing apparatus having the constitution shown inFIG. 29, a barrier layer 105, a seed layer 107 and a plated Cu film 106can be formed on a semiconductor substrate W having a contact hole 103or a trench 104 of a circuit pattern formed therein, and then polishedto form interconnects.

The cassette 1-1 accommodating the semiconductor substrates W beforeformation of the barrier layer 105 is placed on the load port of theloading and unloading section 1. The first robot 3 takes out thesemiconductor substrate W from the cassette 1-1, and carries it into theseed layer forming unit 27 to form a barrier layer 105 and a seed layer107. The barrier layer 105 and the seed layer 107 are formed by anelectroless plating method. After plating, the substrate is heated tomake the adhesion of the barrier layer 105 and the seed layer 107higher. Then, a plated Cu film 106 is formed by the plated Cu filmforming unit 2. At this time, the film thicknesses of the barrier layer105 and the seed layer 107 are measured with the before-plating andafter-plating film thickness measuring instrument 12. Treatment afterformation of the plated Cu film 106 is the same as that described in thetreatment by the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 29, andits explanation is omitted.

In the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 30 also,interconnects are formed by forming a barrier layer 105, a seed layer107 and a plated Cu film 106 on a semiconductor substrate W having acontact hole 103 or a trench 104 of a circuit pattern formed therein,and polishing them.

The cassette 1-1 accommodating the semiconductor substrates W beforeformation of the barrier layer 105 is placed on the load port of theloading and unloading section 1. The first robot 3 takes out thesemiconductor substrate W from the cassette 1-1 placed on the load portof the loading and unloading section 1, and places it on the substrateplacing table 21. Then, the second robot 23 transports the semiconductorsubstrate W to the seed layer forming unit 27 where a barrier layer 105and a seed layer 107 are formed. The barrier layer 105 and the seedlayer 107 are formed by electroless plating. The second robot 23 bringsthe semiconductor substrate W having the barrier layer and the seedlayer 107 formed thereon to the before-plating and after-plating filmthickness measuring instrument 12 which measures the film thicknesses ofthe barrier layer 105 and the seed layer 107. After measurement of thefilm thicknesses, the semiconductor substrate W is carried into theplated Cu film forming unit 2 where a plated Cu film 106 is formed.Treatment after formation of the plated Cu film 106 is the same as thatdescribed in the treatment by the substrate processing apparatus shownin FIG. 29, and its explanation is omitted.

In the above embodiment, although an example in which the plated Cu film106 is formed to form interconnects has been shown. However, plating isnot limited to Cu plating, and may be Cu alloy or other metal plating.

FIG. 31 is a view showing plan layout constitution of another embodimentof the substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention. In the present substrate processing apparatus, there areprovided a barrier layer forming unit 111, a seed layer forming unit112, a plating unit 113, an annealing unit 114, a first cleaning unit115, a bevel and backside cleaning unit 116, a cap plating unit 117, asecond cleaning unit 118, a first aligner and film thickness measuringinstrument 141, a second aligner and film thickness measuring instrument142, a first substrate reversing machine 143, a second substratereversing machine 144, a substrate temporary placing table 145, a thirdfilm thickness measuring instrument 146, a loading and unloading section120, a first polishing apparatus 121, a second polishing apparatus 122,a first robot 131, a second robot 132, a third robot 133, and a fourthrobot 134. The film thickness measuring instruments 141, 142, and 146are units, have the same size as the frontage dimension of other units(plating, cleaning, annealing units, and the like), and are thusinterchangeable.

In this embodiment, an electroless Ru plating apparatus can be used asthe barrier layer forming unit 111, an electroless Cu plating apparatusas the seed layer forming unit 112, and an electroplating apparatus asthe plating unit 113.

FIG. 32 is a flow chart showing the flow of the respective steps in thepresent substrate processing apparatus. The respective steps in theapparatus will be described according to this flow chart. First, asemiconductor substrate taken out by the first robot 131 from a cassette120 a placed on the load and unload unit 120 is placed in the firstaligner and film thickness measuring unit 141, in such a state that itssurface, to be plated, faces upward. In order to set a reference pointfor a position at which film thickness measurement is made, notchalignment for film thickness measurement is performed, and then filmthickness data on the semiconductor substrate before formation of a Cufilm are obtained.

Then, the semiconductor substrate is transported to the barrier layerforming unit 111 by the first robot 131. The barrier layer forming unit111 is such an apparatus for forming a barrier layer on thesemiconductor substrate by electroless Ru plating, and the forming unit111 forms an Ru film as a film for preventing Cu from diffusing into aninterlayer insulator film (e.g., SiO₂) of a semiconductor device. Thesemiconductor substrate discharged after cleaning and drying steps istransported by the first robot 131 to the first aligner and filmthickness measuring unit 141, where the film thickness of thesemiconductor substrate, i.e., the film thickness of the barrier layeris measured.

The semiconductor substrate after film thickness measurement is carriedinto the seed layer forming unit 112 by the second robot 132, and a seedlayer is formed on the barrier layer by electroless Cu plating. Thesemiconductor substrate discharged after cleaning and drying steps istransported by the second robot 132 to the second aligner and filmthickness measuring instrument 142 for determination of a notchposition, before the semiconductor substrate is transported to theplating unit 113, which is an impregnation plating unit, and then notchalignment for Cu plating is performed by the film thickness measuringinstrument 142. If necessary, the film thickness of the semiconductorsubstrate before formation of a Cu film may be measured again in thefilm thickness measuring instrument 142.

The semiconductor substrate which has completed notch alignment istransported by the third robot 133 to the plating unit 113 where Cuplating is applied to the semiconductor substrate. The semiconductorsubstrate discharged after cleaning and drying steps is transported bythe third robot 133 to the bevel and backside cleaning unit 116 where anunnecessary Cu film (seed layer) at a peripheral portion of thesemiconductor substrate is removed. In the bevel and backside cleaningunit 116, the bevel is etched in a preset time, and Cu adhering to thebackside of the semiconductor substrate is cleaned with a chemicalliquid such as hydrofluoric acid. At this time, before transporting thesemiconductor substrate to the bevel and backside cleaning unit 116,film thickness measurement of the semiconductor substrate may be made bythe second aligner and film thickness measuring instrument 142 to obtainthe thickness value of the Cu film formed by plating, and based on theobtained results, the bevel etching time may be changed arbitrarily tocarry out etching. The region etched by bevel etching is a region whichcorresponds to a peripheral edge portion of the substrate and has nocircuit formed therein, or a region which is not utilized finally as achip although a circuit is formed. A bevel portion is included in thisregion.

The semiconductor substrate discharged after cleaning and drying stepsin the bevel and backside cleaning unit 116 is transported by the thirdrobot 133 to the substrate reversing machine 143. After thesemiconductor substrate is turned over by the substrate reversingmachine 143 to cause the plated surface to be directed downward, thesemiconductor substrate is introduced into the annealing unit 114 by thefourth robot 134 for thereby stabilizing a wiring portion. Before and/orafter annealing treatment, the semiconductor substrate is carried intothe second aligner and film thickness measuring unit 142 where the filmthickness of a copper film formed on the semiconductor substrate ismeasured. Then, the semiconductor substrate is carried by the fourthrobot 134 into the first polishing apparatus 121 in which the Cu layerand the seed layer of the semiconductor substrate are polished.

At this time, desired abrasive grains or the like are used, but fixedabrasive may be used in order to prevent dishing and enhance flatness ofthe face. After completion of primary polishing, the semiconductorsubstrate is transported by the fourth robot to the first cleaning unit115 where it is cleaned. This cleaning is scrub-cleaning in which rollshaving substantially the same length as the diameter of thesemiconductor substrate are placed on the face and the backside of thesemiconductor substrate, and the semiconductor substrate and the rollsare rotated, while pure water or deionized water is flowed, therebyperforming cleaning of the semiconductor substrate.

After completion of the primary cleaning, the semiconductor substrate istransported by the fourth robot 134 to the second polishing apparatus122 where the barrier layer on the semiconductor substrate is polished.At this time, desired abrasive grains or the like are used, but fixedabrasive may be used in order to prevent dishing and enhance flatness ofthe face. After completion of secondary polishing, the semiconductorsubstrate is transported by the fourth robot 134 again to the firstcleaning unit 115 where scrub-cleaning is performed. After completion ofcleaning, the semiconductor substrate is transported by the fourth robot134 to the second substrate reversing machine 144 where thesemiconductor substrate is reversed to cause the plated surface to bedirected upward, and then the semiconductor substrate is placed on thesubstrate temporary placing table 145 by the third robot 133.

The semiconductor substrate is transported by the second robot 132 fromthe substrate temporary placing table 145 to the cap plating unit 117where nickel-boron plating is applied onto the Cu surface with the aimof preventing oxidation of Cu due to the atmosphere. The semiconductorsubstrate to which cap plating has been applied is carried by the secondrobot 132 from the cap plating unit 117 to the third film thicknessmeasuring instrument 146 where the thickness of the copper film ismeasured. Thereafter, the semiconductor substrate is carried by thefirst robot 131 into the second cleaning unit 118 where it is cleanedwith pure water or deionized water. The semiconductor substrate aftercompletion of cleaning is returned into the cassette 120 a placed on theloading and unloading section 120.

The aligner and film thickness measuring instrument 141 and the alignerand film thickness measuring instrument 142 perform positioning of thenotch portion of the substrate and measurement of the film thickness.Schematic views of the aligner and film thickness measuring instrument142 are shown in FIGS. 33 and 34. A flow chart showing the movement ofthe semiconductor substrate in the aligner and film thickness measuringinstrument 142 is shown in FIG. 35.

In the aligner and film thickness measuring instrument 142, a notch Wais detected by a photomicrosensor 142-1, while a semiconductor substrateW is rotated, and positioning of the notch Wa is carried out at anarbitrary position. For example, the position of the notch Wa isdetected to set a reference position for the film thickness measurementpoint, whereby the measurement points before treatment and aftertreatment will not be displaced from each other, and the direction ofplacement of the semiconductor substrate when the semiconductorsubstrate is introduced into the plating apparatus can be consistent.

The apparatus is configured to have a rotatable vacuum chuck 142-4, alift 142-2, a photomicrosensor 142-1 for notch detection, an eddycurrent sensor 142-3 for film thickness measurement, and the like. InFIGS. 33 through 35, a semiconductor substrate W is carried in by a hand132-1 of the second robot hand 132 (Step S1). The aligner and filmthickness measuring instrument 142 raises the lift 142-2 and transfersthe semiconductor substrate onto the lift 142-2 (Step S2). The hand132-1 of the second robot 132 is retreated (Step S3), and the lift islowered (Step S4). Thus, the semiconductor substrate W is loaded ontothe vacuum chuck 142-4 (Step S5).

Then, while the vacuum chuck 142-4 is rotating, the photomicrosensor142-1 detects the notch Wa, and the vacuum chuck 142-4 positions thenotch Wa at an arbitrary position in accordance with a subsequenttreatment (Step S6). If necessary, the eddy current sensor 142-3measures the film thickness of the semiconductor substrate W at anarbitrary point (Step S7). Then, when the semiconductor substrate isintroduced into the plating apparatus, the semiconductor substrate W ispositioned so that the position of the notch Wa of the semiconductorsubstrate W in the plating unit 113 is fixed (Step S8). Thereafter, thevacuum chuck is brought into the OFF state (Step S9), and the lift 142-2is raised to transfer the semiconductor substrate W (Step S10). A hand133-1 of the third robot 133 is inserted (Step S11), and the lift 142-2is lowered (Step S12) to transfer the semiconductor substrate W to thehand 133-1. Thus, the semiconductor substrate W is taken out (Step S13).

In FIGS. 33 and 34, the reference numeral 142-6 denotes a vacuum pump,and the vacuum pump 142-6 is connected to suction holes of the vacuumchuck 142-4 via a rotary joint 142-5. The reference numeral 142-7denotes a motor for rotating the vacuum chuck 142-4, the referencenumeral 142-9 denotes a motor for rotating an arm 142-8 having the eddycurrent sensor 142-3 attached thereto, and the reference numeral 142-10denotes an actuator for moving the lifter 142-2 up and down. Thereference numeral 142-11 denotes a temporary placing table for thesemiconductor substrate W. The constitution and operation of the alignerand film thickness measuring instrument 141 are the same as those of thealigner and film thickness measuring instrument 142, and theirexplanations are omitted.

The semiconductor substrate W transferred to the barrier layer formingunit 111 which is an electroless Ru plating apparatus is first given Pdas a catalyst. Pd is applied to the semiconductor substrate W in anamount of about 30 ml, and the treatment time is about 1 minute. Afterthe semiconductor substrate W is washed with water, the semiconductorsubstrate W is treated with hydrochloric acid for activation treatment.At this time, hydrochloric acid is applied in such a state thathydrochloric acid is a 36% solution in a concentration of about 100 ml/Land in an amount of about 30 ml, with the treatment time being about 1minute. After the semiconductor substrate W is washed with water again,electroless Ru plating is performed. RuCl₃.xH₂O is used as a rutheniumplating liquid. Treatment is performed for about 10 minutes at asubstrate surface temperature of about 85° C. The film formation rate atthat time is about 2 nm/min. A barrier layer is formed in this manner,and the substrate is subjected to a water washing step and a spin-dryingstep, thus completing treatment. According to these steps, about 20 nmof Ru is obtained on SiO₂ by electroless plating.

Formation of the barrier layer 105 is not limited to electrolessplating, and this barrier layer may be formed by using CVD, sputteringor electroplating. The barrier layer is not limited to Ru, and anymaterial may be used as long as it can achieve the prevention of Cudiffusion into an interlayer insulator film such as TiN.

Electroless Cu plating, which is the seed layer forming unit 112, canemploy the same apparatus as the electroless Ru plating unit. FIG. 36 isa view showing a constitution example of an electroless Cu plating unit.The structure of the electroless plating apparatus shown in FIG. 36 willbe described in detail in an explanation for the second aspect of thepresent invention.

In the seed layer forming unit 112, a semiconductor substrate W per seis directly heated by a backside heater 315, and kept at a temperatureof 70° C., for example. A plating liquid heated, for example, to 50° C.is ejected from a shower head 341, and the plating liquid is poured oversubstantially the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate W. Theamount of the supplied plating liquid is such that the thickness of theplating liquid on the surface of the semiconductor substrate W is about1 mm. The semiconductor substrate W is instantaneously rotated by amotor M to perform uniform liquid wetting on the surface to be plated,and then a plated film is formed on the surface of the substrate in sucha state that the semiconductor substrate W is in a stationary state.

After seed layer formation treatment is completed, the front end of aplating recovery nozzle 365 is lowered to an area near the inside of adam member 331 located at a face peripheral edge portion of thesemiconductor substrate W to suck in the plating liquid. At this time,the semiconductor substrate W is rotated, for example, at a rotationalspeed of 100 rpm or less, and hence the liquid remaining on the uppersurface of the semiconductor substrate W can be gathered in the portionof the dam member 331 by centrifugal force. Thus, the plating liquid canbe recovered with good efficiency and at a high recovery rate.

Then, holding means 311 is lowered to separate the semiconductorsubstrate W from the dam member 331, and the rotation of thesemiconductor substrate W is started and a cleaning liquid (ultrapurewater) is ejected toward the plated surface of the semiconductorsubstrate W from a nozzle 353 of cleaning liquid supply means 351 tocool the plated surface and perform dilution and cleaning, therebyterminating the electroless plating reaction. Next, the semiconductorsubstrate W is rotated at a high speed by the motor M for therebyspin-drying, and then the semiconductor substrate W is taken out fromthe holding means 311.

The above electroless plating liquid contains CuSO₄.5H₂O, EDTA.4Na as acomplexing agent, HCHO as a reducing agent, and NaOH as an alkali for pHadjustment so that the pH becomes 12.5, and further containsα,α′-dipyridyl. The plating temperature is about 40 to 80° C. Formationof the seed layer is not limited to electroless plating, and this seedlayer can be formed by using CVD, sputtering or electroplating.

The bevel and backside cleaning unit 116 can perform an edge (bevel) Cuetching and a backside cleaning at the same time, and can suppressgrowth of a natural oxide film of copper at the circuit formationportion on the surface of the substrate. FIG. 37 shows a schematic viewof the bevel and backside cleaning unit 116. As shown in FIG. 37, thebevel and backside cleaning unit 116 has a substrate holding portion 222positioned inside a bottomed cylindrical waterproof cover 220 andadapted to rotate a substrate W at a high speed, in such a state thatthe face of the substrate W faces upwardly, while holding the substrateW horizontally by spin chucks 221 at a plurality of locations along acircumferential direction of a peripheral edge portion of the substrate;a center nozzle 224 placed above a nearly central portion of the face ofthe substrate W held by the substrate holding portion 222; and an edgenozzle 226 placed above the peripheral edge portion of the substrate W.The center nozzle 224 and the edge nozzle 226 are directed downward. Aback nozzle 228 is positioned below a nearly central portion of thebackside of the substrate W, and directed upward. The edge nozzle 226 isadapted to be movable in a diametrical direction and a height directionof the substrate W.

The width of movement L of the edge nozzle 226 is set such that the edgenozzle 226 can be arbitrarily positioned in a direction toward thecenter from the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate, and a setvalue for L is inputted according to the size, usage, or the like of thesubstrate W. Normally, an edge cut width C is set in the range of 2 mmto 5 mm. In the case where a rotational speed of the substrate is acertain value or higher at which the amount of liquid migration from thebackside to the face is not problematic, the copper film within the edgecut width C can be removed.

Next, the method of cleaning with this cleaning apparatus will bedescribed. First, the semiconductor substrate W is horizontally rotatedintegrally with the substrate holding portion 222, with the substratebeing held horizontally by the spin chucks 221 of the substrate holdingportion 222. In this state, an acid solution is supplied from the centernozzle 224 to the central portion of the face of the substrate W. Theacid solution may be a non-oxidizing acid such as hydrofluoric acid,hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, citric acid, oxalic acid, or the likeis used. On the other hand, an oxidizing agent solution is suppliedcontinuously or intermittently from the edge nozzle 226 to theperipheral edge portion of the substrate W. As the oxidizing agentsolution, one of an aqueous solution of ozone, an aqueous solution ofhydrogen peroxide, an aqueous solution of nitric acid, and an aqueoussolution of sodium hypochlorite is used, or a combination of these isused.

In this manner, the copper film, or the like formed on the upper surfaceand end surface in the region of the peripheral edge portion C of thesemiconductor substrate W is rapidly oxidized with the oxidizing agentsolution, and is simultaneously etched with the acid solution suppliedfrom the center nozzle 224 and spreaded on the entire face of thesubstrate, whereby it is dissolved and removed. By mixing the acidsolution and the oxidizing agent solution at the peripheral edge portionof the substrate, a steep etching profile can be obtained, in comparisonwith a mixture of them which is produced in advance being supplied. Atthis time, the copper etching rate is determined by theirconcentrations. If a natural oxide film of copper is formed in thecircuit-formed portion on the face of the substrate, this natural oxideis immediately removed by the acid solution spreading on the entire faceof the substrate according to rotation of the substrate, and does notgrow any more. That is, the oxide film of copper, which was formed onthe surface of the substrate in the plating, can thus be removed byflowing HF over the substrate surface. Further, an oxide film of copperis not newly formed during the etching. It is to be noted in thisconnection that when an oxide film of copper remains on the surface ofthe substrate, only the oxide portion of copper is preferentiallypolished away in a later CMP processing, which adversely affects theflatness of the processed surface. This can be avoided by the removal ofthe oxide film of copper in the above manner.

After the supply of the acid solution from the center nozzle 224 isstopped, the supply of the oxidizing agent solution from the edge nozzle226 is stopped. As a result, silicon exposed on the surface is oxidized,and deposition of copper can be suppressed. Thus, the activated surfaceof Si exposed on the surface of the substrate, for example, can beoxidized and thereby inactivated by later stopping the supply of H₂O₂.This prevents adsorption of large particles onto the surface of thesubstrate which can cause scratching in a later CMP processing.

The oxidation of copper by H₂O₂and the removal of the oxidized copper byHF, carried out repeatedly in the above manner, can enhance the rate ofcopper removal as compared with the case where the oxidation of copperand its removal are simultaneously effected by using a mixture of H₂O₂and HF.

On the other hand, an oxidizing agent solution and a silicon oxide filmetching agent are supplied simultaneously or alternately from the backnozzle 228 to the central portion of the backside of the substrate.Therefore, copper or the like adhering in a metal form to the backsideof the semiconductor substrate W can be oxidized with the oxidizingagent solution, together with silicon of the substrate, and can beetched and removed with the silicon oxide film etching agent. Thisoxidizing agent solution is preferably the same as the oxidizing agentsolution supplied to the face, because the types of chemicals aredecreased in number. Hydrofluoric acid can be used as the silicon oxidefilm etching agent, and if hydrofluoric acid is used as the acidsolution on the face of the substrate, the types of chemicals can bedecreased in number. Thus, if the supply of the oxidizing agent isstopped first, a hydrophobic surface is obtained. If the etching agentsolution is stopped first, a water-saturated surface (a hydrophilicsurface) is obtained, and thus the backside surface can be adjusted to acondition which will satisfy the requirements of a subsequent process.

In this manner, the acid solution, i.e., etching solution, is suppliedto the substrate to remove metal ions remaining on the surface of thesubstrate W. Then, pure water is supplied to replace the etchingsolution with pure water and remove the etching solution, and then thesubstrate is dried by spin-drying. In this way, removal of the copperfilm in the edge cut width C at the peripheral edge portion on the faceof the semiconductor substrate, and removal of copper contaminants onthe backside are performed simultaneously to thus allow this treatmentto be completed, for example, within 80 seconds. The etching cut widthof the edge can be set arbitrarily (to 2 mm to 5 mm), but the timerequired for etching does not depend on the cut width.

The revolution member supporting apparatus shown in FIG. 5 is used forholding the semiconductor substrate in the bevel and backside cleaningunit 116.

Annealing treatment performed before the CMP process and after platinghas a favorable effect on the subsequent CMP treatment and on theelectrical characteristics of wiring. Observation of the surface ofbroad wiring (unit of several micrometers) after the CMP treatmentwithout annealing showed many defects such as microvoids, which resultedin an increase in the electrical resistance of the entire wiring.Execution of annealing ameliorated the increase in the electricalresistance. In the absence of annealing, thin wiring showed no voids.Thus, the degree of grain growth is presumed to be involved in thesephenomena. That is, the following mechanism can be speculated. Graingrowth is difficult to occur in thin wiring. In broad wiring, on theother hand, grain growth proceeds in accordance with annealingtreatment. During the process of grain growth, ultrafine pores in theplated film, which are too small to be seen by the SEM (scanningelectron microscope), gather and move upward, thus formingmicrovoid-like depressions in the upper part of the wiring. Theannealing conditions in the annealing unit 114 are such that hydrogen(2% or less) is added inagas atmosphere, the temperature is in the rangeof 300° C. to 400° C., and the time is in the range of 1 to 5 minutes.Under these conditions, the above effects were obtained.

FIGS. 77 and 78 show the annealing unit 114. The annealing unit 114comprises a chamber 1002 having a gate 1000 for taking in and taking outthe semiconductor substrate W, a hot plate 1004 disposed at an upperposition in the chamber 1002 for heating the semiconductor substrate Wto, e.g., 400° C., and a cool plate 1006 disposed at a lower position inthe chamber 1002 for cooling the semiconductor substrate W by, forexample, flowing a cooling water inside the plate. The annealing unit1002 also has a plurality of vertically movable elevating pins 1008penetrating the cool plate 1006 and extending upward and downwardtherethrough for placing and holding the semiconductor substrate W onthem. The annealing unit further includes a gas introduction pipe 1010for introducing an antioxidant gas between the semiconductor substrate Wand the hot plate 1004 during annealing, and a gas discharge pipe 1012for discharging the gas which has been introduced from the gasintroduction pipe 1010 and flowed between the semiconductor substrate Wand the hot plate 1004. The pipes 1010 and 1012 are disposed on theopposite sides of the hot plate 1004.

The gas introduction pipe 1010 is connected to a mixed gas introductionline 1022 which in turn is connected to a mixer 1020 where a N₂ gasintroduced through a N₂ gas introduction line 1016 containing a filter1014 a, and a H₂ gas introduced through a H₂ gas introduction line 1018containing a filter 1014 b, are mixed to form a mixed gas which flowsthrough the line 1022 into the gas introduction pipe 1010.

In operation, the semiconductor substrate W, which has been carried inthe chamber 1002 through the gate 1000, is held on the elevating pins1008 and the elevating pins 1008 are raised up to a position at whichthe distance between the semiconductor substrate W held on the liftingpins 1008 and the hot plate 1004 becomes, e.g., 0.1-1.0 mm. In thisstate, the semiconductor substrate W is then heated to, e.g., 400° C.through the hot plate 1004 and, at the same time, the antioxidant gas isintroduced from the gas introduction pipe 1010 and the gas is allowed toflow between the semiconductor substrate W and the hot plate 1004 whilethe gas is discharged from the gas discharge pipe 1012, therebyannealing the semiconductor substrate W while preventing its oxidation.The annealing treatment may be completed in about several tens ofseconds to 60 seconds. The heating temperature of the substrate may beselected in the range of 100-600° C.

After the completion of the annealing, the elevating pins 1008 arelowered down to a position at which the distance between thesemiconductor substrate W held on the elevating pins 1008 and the coolplate 1006 becomes, e.g., 0-0.5 mm. In this state, by introducing acooling water into the cool plate 1006, the semiconductor substrate W iscooled by the cool plate to a temperature of 100° C. or lower in, e.g.,10-60 seconds. The cooled semiconductor substrate is sent to the nextstep.

A mixed gas of N₂ gas with several % of H₂ gas is used as the aboveantioxidant gas. However, N₂ gas may be used singly.

The features of the substrate processing apparatus having theabove-described constitution are enumerated as follows.

Pretreatment, cleaning and drying can be performed in each film formingunit, and no contaminants are brought into a next step.

In each unit incorporated in the present apparatus, various chemicalliquids are used. Even in the same unit, different chemical liquids maybe selected depending on differences in the process. If differentchemical liquids are mixed, the treating effects of the chemical liquidsmay change, or crystals of compounds may be deposited, thus not onlyaffecting the substrate being treated, but also affecting the processtreatment of a next semiconductor substrate which will be introducedsubsequently. If the transport means is a robot hand, the hand iscontaminated. Thus, each time the substrate is transported, variouschemical liquids adhere thereto.

Therefore, the present apparatus is characterized in that beforetransfer to the next unit, i.e., the next step in the semiconductormanufacturing apparatus, the semiconductor substrate is subjected in theunit to treatment which allows no chemical liquid for treatment toremain, and then the treated semiconductor substrate is taken outtherefrom. Thus, the chemical liquid is not brought into a separateunit. For example, when the substrate is to be transferred from theelectroless plating unit for a barrier layer formation step to theelectroplating unit for a plating step for formation of buried wiring,the substrate is subjected to cleaning treatment and drying treatment inthe electroless plating unit. Thus, an alkaline electroless platingliquid is prevented from being brought into the electroplating unit inwhich an acidic plating liquid is used.

At the time of transfer of the substrate from the plating step to theCMP step, cleaning treatment and drying treatment, as well as platingtreatment, are carried out in the electroplating unit so that the acidicplating liquid is not brought into the CMP step.

The plating unit 113 for performing a plating step for embedded wiringis characterized in that treatment with a surface active agent,precoating treatment, and the like are possible. Because of thischaracteristic, pretreatment can be performed in the plating unit 113(in the single unit) immediately before electroplating, and hencefilling of liquid into fine recesses is improved. Moreover, a cleaningmechanism and a spin-drying mechanism are present in the plating unit113 (in the single unit), and hence the semiconductor substrate W forintercellular movement can be put into a desired wet state such asliquid removal or drying. The cleaning mechanism and the spin-dryingmechanism, in particular, can clean and dry not only the semiconductorsubstrate, but also the seal material and the cathode contacts, and thushave the effects of remarkably decreasing the replacement frequency ofthese expendable members and increasing the continuous operating time ofthe entire apparatus.

Flexible incorporation of the units and flexible construction of theprocess can be performed in a short period of time. FIGS. 38A through38D, 39A, 39B, and 40A and 40B are views showing constitution examplesin which the respective units in the substrate processing apparatus areinterchangeable. FIGS. 38A and 38B are plan views of bed plates forsupporting respective units constituting the present substrateprocessing apparatus, FIG. 38C is a front view of the base plate, andFIG. 39D is a sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 38B. FIG. 39Ais a front view of each unit of the present substrate processingapparatus, and FIG. 39B is a sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG.39A. FIG. 40A is a front view showing a state in which each unit of thepresent substrate processing apparatus is placed on the base plate, andFIG. 40B is a sectional view taken along line C-C of FIG. 40A.

As shown in the drawings, two rails (comprising, for example, SUSmaterial) 302, 302 are placed on an upper surface of a bed plate 300 forplacing thereon each unit 301 of the present substrate processingapparatus, in parallel and with narrower spacing than the frontagedimension D of each unit 301 so as to be placed in the bed plate 300(the upper surface of the bed plate 300 is substantially flush with theupper surfaces of the rails 302, 302). At an intermediate positionbetween the rails, one guide bar (comprising, for example, nylon resinmaterial) 303 is placed so as to protrude from the upper surface of thebed plate 300. The bottom of each unit 301 is double-bottomed, and fourrollers 304 are attached to an upper bottom portion 305 by screws 308,while a groove 307 to be engaged with the guide bar 303 is provided in alower bottom portion 306. The height of each roller 304 can be adjustedby the screw 308.

The screw 308 is adjusted to adjust a bottom portion of each roller 304so as to protrude slightly (e.g., by about 1 mm) from the lower bottomportion 306. In this state, when the unit 301 is inserted such that theguide bar 303 is engaged with the groove 307 of the lower bottom portion306 of the unit 301, the unit 301 is guided by the guide bar and settlesat a predetermined position. In this state, a gap d corresponding to aprotrusion of the roller 304 exists between the lower bottom portion 306and the upper surface of the bed plate 300, as shown in FIG. 40A. Eachscrew 308 is loosened in such a state that each unit 301 is settled atthe predetermined position for thereby retracting each roller 304, andthus the lower bottom portion 306 of the unit 301 contacts the uppersurface of the bed plate 300 (not shown). In this state, each unit 301is fixed to the bed plate 300 by fixing screws (not shown).

Each unit is loaded such that its carry-in and carry-out opening isdirected in the direction of the transfer robots 131 to 134 (see FIG.31). The width of each unit 300 facing the robot, i.e., the frontagedimension D, is of the same size. During loading, the unit is insertedalong the rails 302, 302 onto the unit loading surface of the bed plate300 of the present apparatus as described above, and thus the unit canbe easily loaded. The loaded unit 301 may be pulled in the reversedirection when it is removed from the body of the apparatus.

In the field of semiconductor manufacturing, innovations in techniquesare making rapid progress. By imparting an easily replaceable structureto each unit 301 constituting the apparatus as described above, some ofthe units 301 can be easily replaced with new units, without the need toreplace the entire apparatus. Thus, renewal of the functions of theentire apparatus can be achieved at a low cost in a short period oftime. Also, on the precondition that the unit 301 will be replaced inthe above manner, the apparatus is designed such that the control systemcan easily cope with the replacement. The present apparatus can freelyset whether a process treatment is performed or not in the loaded unit301 (skip function for the unit), and can freely set a treatment routeof the semiconductor substrate W (sequence of use of the units). Thus,not only in case the unit has been replaced, but also in case treatmentshould be performed by a different process, the functions of theapparatus can be flexibly modified. Particularly, in order to meetdemands for manufacturing of a wide variety of products, and low volumeproduction in recent years, it has become important to possess manykinds of small scale lines. Thus, the above structure which enablesnecessary units to be easily and freely combined is particularly useful.

FIG. 41 is a view showing plan layout constitution of another embodimentof the substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention. The present substrate processing apparatus is such asubstrate processing apparatus applicable to small-scale, low volumeproduction of a wide variety of products, like manufacturing of systemLSIs required for digital information household electrical appliances.In the substrate processing apparatus, there are provided a firstplating unit 401, a second plating unit 402, a bevel and backsidecleaning unit 403, an annealing unit 404, an aligner and film thicknessmeasuring unit 405, and a loading and unloading section 408 such thatthey surround a first robot 406 and a second robot 407. Two indexers409, 409 are placed on the loading and unloading section 408, and acassette 410 can be placed on each of the indexers. In FIG. 41, thereference numeral 411 denotes a chemical liquid supply unit, thereference numeral 412 an electrical component unit, the referencenumeral 413 a touch panel, and the reference numeral 414 a duct for airintake or exhaust.

The indexer 409 is such a mechanism which can raise and lower a cassetteplaced thereon to position the cassette in a height direction inalignment with a substrate taken out by the first robot 406. The firstrobot 406 accesses the same height position. In the present substrateprocessing apparatus, the first robot 406 takes out the substrate, whichhas a barrier layer and a seed layer formed by another apparatus, fromthe cassette 410 on the indexer 409, and transports it to the alignerand film thickness measuring unit 405. After alignment of the notch andfilm thickness measurement before film formation are performed by thealigner and film thickness measuring unit 405, the second robot 407takes out the substrate from the aligner and film thickness measuringunit 405, and transports it to the first plating unit 401 or the secondplating unit 402 where copper plating is applied.

The substrate to which copper plating has been applied, is transportedby the second robot 407 to the aligner and film thickness measuring unit405, and the film thickness of the substrate after plating is measuredwith the aligner and film thickness measuring unit 405. The first robot406 takes out the substrate from the aligner and film thicknessmeasuring unit 405, and transports it to the bevel and backside cleaningunit 403. After the substrate is cleaned in the bevel and backsidecleaning unit 403, it is transported to the annealing unit 404. Afterthe substrate is annealed in the annealing unit 404, the first robot 406returns the substrate which has been cleaning to the cassette 410 on theindexer 409.

The first plating unit 401 and the second plating unit 402 may be setfor the same process, and plating treatment of a plurality of substratesmay be performed in parallel. Alternatively, different processes may beused in the first plating unit 401 and the second plating unit 402, andduring one of the processes, one of the units may be kept at rest, whileonly the other unit may be used. Also, the annealing unit 404 and thebevel and backside cleaning unit 403 can be replaced with plating unitsfor performing different processes.

In the present substrate processing apparatus, the width of sides 401 a,402 a of the first plating unit 401 and the second plating unit 402facing the second robot 407, namely the frontage dimension D is of thesame size as the frontage dimension of the annealing unit 404, the beveland backside cleaning unit 403, the aligner and film thickness measuringunit 405, the cleaning units 115, 118 shown in FIG. 16, the seed layerforming unit 112, the barrier layer forming unit 111, the cap platingunit 117, the aligner and film thickness measuring units 141, 142, thefilm thickness measuring unit 146, the substrate reversing machines 143,144, and the temporary placing table 145 (although the frontagedimension in some parts is not shown to be of the same size in thedrawing). Thus, when a new process is to be introduced, these units canbe easily replaced by other units, and hence renewal of the apparatuscan be performed at a low cost in a short time. The aligner and filmthickness measuring unit 405 is also of the same size as the frontagedimension of other units, and they are interchangeable.

FIG. 42 is a view showing plan layout constitution of another embodimentof the substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention. The present substrate processing apparatus differs from thesubstrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 41 is that an annealingunit 404 shown in FIG. 38 is not provided. The other constitution of thesubstrate processing apparatus is the same as that of the substrateprocessing apparatus shown in FIG. 41, and its explanation is omitted.

With the above-described layout of the substrate processing apparatuswhich is mainly adopted, a plurality of the substrate processingapparatuses are installed in the plant, and the constitutions of theunits to be loaded thereon are changed, whereby the apparatuses can beused in different wiring processes. In case that high volume productionis required temporarily, the apparatuses can be rapidly modified intosubstrate processing apparatuses composed of the same units to meet therequirement.

Though the two robots, the first robot 406 and the second robot 407, areused in the semiconductor substrate processing device shown in FIG. 41or FIG. 42, use of one robot only may also be possible.

Further, in consideration of the throughput of semiconductor wafers, forexample, a plurality of plating units and cleaning units(spin-rinsing/drying units) may suitably be provided around one robot.For example, three plating units and three cleaning units may beprovided around one robot. The cleaning unit (spin-rinsing/drying unit)may be substituted by a bevel-etching unit. The plating unit may eitherbe of the so-called face-up type as shown in FIGS. 12 through 16, or ofthe so-called face-down type as shown in FIGS. 59 through 66.

FIG.43 is a view showing plan layout constitution of another embodimentof the substrate processing apparatus according to the presentinvention. In the substrate processing apparatus, there are provided aloading and unloading section 604, two annealing units 606 and cleaningunits 608 such that they surround a first robot 600 and a second robot602. Further, a third robot 62 is disposed at the position surrounded bycleaning units 608 and four plated film forming units 610. The substrateprocessing apparatus is provided with a chemical liquid supplying system614 for supplying the plating liquid to the plated film forming units610. Each of the cleaning units 608 is provided with a revolution membersupporting apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 through 6.

In the foregoing explanations of the embodiments, an example for formingthe plated Cu film 106 by electroplating has been described, but theplated Cu film 106 can be formed by electroless plating.

According to the first aspect of the present invention as describedabove, the following excellent effects can be obtained.

(1) Processing in which metal plating is applied onto a semiconductorsubstrate having a trench and/or a hole for an interconnection patternformed on a surface thereof, and having a barrier layer and a powersupply seed layer formed thereon, the barrier layer, the power supplyseed layer and a plated metal film are polished and removed, and thesubstrate is cleaned and dried to form interconnects, can be performedcontinuously by one apparatus. Thus, compared with a case in whichrespective processing steps are performed by separate apparatuses, theentire apparatus can be compact, a wide installation space is notneeded, the initial cost and running cost for the apparatus can bedecreased, and interconnects can be formed in a short processing time.

(2) Processing in which a power supply seed layer and a plated metalfilm are applied onto a semiconductor substrate having a trench and/or ahole for an interconnection pattern formed on a surface thereof, andhaving a barrier layer formed thereon, the power supply seed layer andthe plated metal film are polished and removed, and the substrate iscleaned and dried to form interconnects, can be performed continuouslyby one apparatus. Thus, compared with a case in which respectiveprocessing steps are performed by separate apparatuses, the entireapparatus can be compact, a wide installation space is not needed, theinitial cost and running cost for the apparatus can be decreased, andinterconnects can be formed in a short processing time.

(3) Processing in which a barrier layer, a power supply seed layer and aplated metal film are applied onto a semiconductor substrate having atrench and/or a hole for an interconnection pattern formed on a surfacethereof, the barrier layer, the power supply seed layer and the platedmetal film are polished and removed, and the substrate is cleaned anddried to form interconnects, can be performed continuously by oneapparatus. Thus, compared with a case in which respective processingsteps are performed by separate apparatuses, the entire apparatus can becompact, a wide installation space is not needed, the initial cost andrunning cost for the apparatus can be decreased, and interconnects canbe formed in a short processing time.

(4) By recording the results of measurement of the film thicknesses, theremaining film, and the initial film thicknesses of the respectivelayers measured with the film thickness measuring section and theremaining film measuring section, it is possible to utilize the recordsas data for controlling the treatment time of a subsequent step, and asdata for judging the good or poor state of each treatment step, orjudging whether the semiconductor substrate after completion of theinterconnect formation treatment is good or poor.

(5) It is possible to provide a substrate processing apparatus which caneasily cope with a change in the substrate treatment process, and canachieve renewal of the function of the entire substrate processingapparatus at a low cost in a short time.

(6) While a substrate holding portion is holding a semiconductorsubstrate face up, a plating liquid is filled between a surface to beplated and an anode of an electrode arm portion to perform platingtreatment. After plating treatment, the plating liquid between thesurface to be plated and the anode of the electrode arm portion isdischarged, and the electrode arm portion is raised to release theplated surface. Thus, other treatments associated with platingtreatment, such as pretreatment and cleaning and drying treatment, canbe performed before and after plating treatment, while the semiconductorsubstrate is being held by the substrate holding portion.

(7) The precoating treatment, plating treatment and water washingtreatment can be performed by a plating unit, thus improving timeefficiency.

(8) Since the respective units are adapted to be interchangeable, theapparatus can freely and easily deal with changes in the substratetreatment process, and renewal of the functions of the entire substrateprocessing apparatus can be achieved at a low cost in a short time.

(9) Processing in which metal plating is applied onto a semiconductorsubstrate having a trench and/or a hole for an interconnection patternformed on a surface thereof, and having a barrier layer and a powersupply seed layer formed thereon, the barrier layer, the power supplyseed layer, and a plated metal film are polished and removed, and thesubstrate is cleaned and dried to form interconnects, can be performedcontinuously by one apparatus. Thus, compared with a case in whichrespective treatment steps are performed by separate apparatuses, theentire apparatus can be compact, a wide installation space is notneeded, the initial cost and running cost for the apparatus can bedecreased, and interconnects can be formed in a short processing time.

(10) Processing in which a power supply seed layer and a plated metalfilm are applied onto a semiconductor substrate having a trench and/or ahole for an interconnection pattern formed on a surface thereof, andhaving a barrier layer formed thereon, the power supply seed layer andthe plated metal film are polished and removed, and the substrate iscleaned and dried to form interconnects, can be performed continuously.Thus, interconnects can be formed in a short processing time.

(11) Processing in which a barrier layer, a power supply seed layer anda plated metal film are applied onto a semiconductor substrate having atrench and/or a hole for an interconnection pattern formed on a surfacethereof, the power supply seed layer and the plated metal film arepolished and removed, and the substrate is cleaned and dried to forminterconnects, can be performed continuously. Thus, interconnects can beformed in a short processing time.

Next, a second aspect of the present invention will be described indetail with reference to FIGS. 36, 44A through 44C and 45. Anelectroless plating apparatus according to this embodiment is used, forexample, to form a seed layer or interconnect comprising a copper layerby applying electroless copper plating onto the surface of asemiconductor substrate W. An example of this plating process will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 44A through 44C.

In the semiconductor substrate W, as shown in FIG. 44A, an insulatingfilm 102 comprising SiO₂ is deposited on a conductive layer 101 a of asubstrate 101 on which semiconductor devices are formed, a contact hole103 and a trench 104 for an interconnect are formed by lithography andetching technology, a barrier layer 105 comprising TiN or the like isformed thereon, and a seed layer 107 is further formed thereon byelectroless copper plating. The seed layer 107 may be formed beforehandby sputtering, and a reinforcing seed layer for reinforcing the seedlayer 107 may be formed thereon by electroless copper plating. As shownin FIG. 44B, copper plating is applied onto the surface of thesemiconductor substrate W to fill copper into the contact hole 103 andthe trench 104 of the semiconductor substrate W and deposit a copperlayer 106 on the insulating film 102. Thereafter, the copper layer 106on the insulating film 102 is removed by chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) to make the surface of the copper layer 106, filled into thecontact hole 103 and the trench 104 for an interconnect, flush with thesurface of the insulating film 102, as shown in FIG. 44C. Aninterconnect protective film 108 is formed on the exposed metal surface.The reinforcing seed layer can be formed by electroless plating asdescribed above, but can also be formed by electroplating. When thereinforcing seed layer is to be formed by electroplating, it can beformed by the plated metal film forming unit of the present invention,but can also be formed by a so-called cup-type electroplating unit whichperforms electroplating while holding a surface, to be plated, of thesubstrate so as to face downward.

FIG. 36 is a schematic constitution drawing of the electroless platingapparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 36, thiselectroless plating apparatus comprises holding means 311 for holding asemiconductor substrate W to be plated on its upper surface, a dammember (plating liquid holding mechanism) 331 for contacting aperipheral edge portion of a surface to be plated (upper surface) of thesemiconductor substrate W held by the holding means 311 to seal theperipheral edge portion, and a shower head (an electroless platingtreatment liquid (scattering) supply means) 341 for supplying a platingliquid (an electroless plating treatment liquid) to the surface, to beplated, of the semiconductor substrate W having the peripheral edgeportion sealed with the dam member 331. The electroless platingapparatus further comprises cleaning liquid supply means 351 disposednear an upper outer periphery of the holding means 311 for supplying acleaning liquid to the surface, to be plated, of the semiconductorsubstrate W, a recovery vessel 361 for recovering a cleaning liquid orthe like (plating waste liquid) discharged, a plating liquid recoverynozzle 365 for sucking in and recovering the plating liquid held on thesemiconductor substrate W, and a motor (rotational drive means) M forrotationally driving the holding means 311. The respective members willbe described below.

The holding means 311 has a substrate placing portion 313 on its uppersurface for placing and holding the semiconductor substrate W. Thesubstrate placing portion 313 is adapted to place and fix thesemiconductor substrate W. Specifically, the substrate placing portion313 has a vacuum attracting mechanism (not shown) for attracting thesemiconductor substrate W to a backside thereof by vacuum suction. Abackside heater (heating means) 315, which is planar and heats thesurface, to be plated, of the semiconductor substrate W from undersideto keep it warm, is provided at the backside of the substrate placingportion 313. The backside heater 315 is composed of, for example, arubber heater. This holding means 311 is adapted to be rotated by themotor M and is movable vertically by raising and lowering means (notshown).

The dam member 331 is tubular, has a seal portion 333 provided in alower portion thereof for sealing the outer peripheral edge of thesemiconductor substrate W, and is installed so as not to move verticallyfrom the illustrated position.

The shower head 341 is of a structure having many nozzles provided atthe front end for scattering the supplied plating liquid in a showerform and supplying it substantially uniformly to the surface, to beplated, of the semiconductor substrate W. The cleaning liquid supplymeans 351 has a structure for ejecting a cleaning liquid from a nozzle353.

The plating liquid recovery nozzle 365 is adapted to be movable upwardand downward and swingable, and the front end of the plating liquidrecovery nozzle 365 is adapted to be lowered inwardly of the dam member331 located on the upper surface peripheral edge portion of thesemiconductor substrate W and to suck in the plating liquid on thesemiconductor substrate W.

Next, the operation of the electroless plating apparatus will bedescribed. First, the holding means 311 is lowered from the illustratedstate to provide a gap of a predetermined dimension between the holdingmeans 311 and the dam member 331, and the semiconductor substrate W isplaced on and fixed to the substrate placing portion 313. An 8 inchwafer, for example, is used as the semiconductor substrate W.

Then, the holding means 311 is raised to bring its upper surface intocontact with the lower surface of the dam member 331 as illustrated, andthe outer periphery of the semiconductor substrate W is sealed with theseal portion 333 of the dam member 331. At this time, the surface of thesemiconductor substrate W is in an open state.

Then, the semiconductor substrate W itself is directly heated by thebackside heater 315 to render the temperature of the semiconductorsubstrate W, for example, 70° C. (maintained until termination ofplating). Then, the plating liquid heated, for example, to 50° C. isejected from the shower head 341 to pour the plating liquid oversubstantially the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate W. Sincethe surface of the semiconductor substrate W is surrounded by the damemember 331, the poured plating liquid is all held on the surface of thesemiconductor substrate W. The amount of the supplied plating liquid maybe a small amount which will become a 1 mm thickness (about 30 ml) onthe surface of the semiconductor substrate W. The depth of the platingliquid held on the surface to be plated may be 10 mm or less, and may beeven 1 mm as in this embodiment. If a small amount of the suppliedplating liquid is sufficient as in the present embodiment, the heatingapparatus for heating the plating liquid may be of a small size. In thisembodiment, the temperature of the semiconductor substrate W is raisedto 70° C., and the temperature of the plating liquid is raised to 50° C.by heating. Thus, the surface, to be plated, of the semiconductorsubstrate W becomes, for example, 60° C., and hence a temperatureoptimal for a plating reaction in this embodiment can be achieved. Ifthe semiconductor substrate W itself is adapted to be heated asdescribed above, the temperature of the plating liquid requiring a greatelectric power consumption for heating need not be raised so high. Thisis preferred, because the electric power consumption can be decreased,and a change in the property of the plating liquid can be prevented. Theelectric power consumption for heating of the semiconductor substrate Witself may be small, and the amount of the plating liquid stored on thesemiconductor substrate W is also small. Thus, heat retention of thesemiconductor substrate W by the backside heater 315 can be performedeasily, and the capacity of the backside heater 315 may be small, andthe apparatus can be made compact. If means for directly cooling thesemiconductor substrate W itself is used, switching between heating andcooling may be performed during plating to change the platingconditions. Since the plating liquid held on the semiconductor substrateis in a small amount, temperature control can be performed with goodsensitivity.

The semiconductor substrate W is instantaneously rotated by the motor Mto perform uniform liquid wetting of the surface to be plated, and thenplating of the surface to be plated is performed in such a state thatthe semiconductor substrate W is in a stationary state. Specifically,the semiconductor substrate W is rotated at 100 rpm or less for only 1second to uniformly wet the surface, to be plated, of the semiconductorsubstrate W with the plating liquid. Then, the semiconductor substrate Wis kept stationary, and electroless plating is performed for 1 minute.The instantaneous rotating time is 10 seconds or less at the longest.

After completion of the plating treatment, the front end of the platingliquid recovery nozzle 365 is lowered to an area near the inside of thedam member 331 on the peripheral edge portion of the semiconductorsubstrate W to suck in the plating liquid. At this time, if thesemiconductor substrate W is rotated at a rotational speed of, forexample, 100 rpm or less, the plating liquid remaining on thesemiconductor substrate W can be gathered in the portion of the dammember 331 on the peripheral edge portion of the semiconductor substrateW under centrifugal force, so that recovery of the plating liquid can beperformed with a good efficiency and a high recovery rate. The holdingmeans 311 is lowered to separate the semiconductor substrate W from thedam member 331. The semiconductor substrate W is started to be rotated,and the cleaning liquid (ultrapure water) is jetted at the platedsurface of the semiconductor substrate W from the nozzle 353 of thecleaning liquid supply means 351 to cool the plated surface, andsimultaneously perform dilution and cleaning, thereby stopping theelectroless plating reaction. At this time, the cleaning liquid jettedfrom the nozzle 353 may be supplied to the dam member 331 to performcleaning of the dam member 331 at the same time. The plating wasteliquid at this time is recovered into the recovery vessel 361 anddiscarded.

The plating liquid once used is not reused, but thrown away. Asdescribed above, the amount of the plating liquid used in this apparatuscan be made very small, compared with that in the prior art. Thus, theamount of the plating liquid which is discarded is small, even withoutreuse. In some cases, the plating liquid recovery nozzle 365 may not beinstalled, and the plating liquid which has been used may be recoveredas a plating waste liquid into the recovery vessel 361, together withthe cleaning liquid.

Then, the semiconductor substrate W is rotated at a high speed by themotor M for spin-drying, and then the semiconductor substrate W isremoved from the holding means 311.

FIG. 45 is a schematic constitution drawing of an electroless platingapparatus constituted using another embodiment of the present invention.The embodiment of FIG. 45 is different from the aforementionedembodiment in that instead of providing the backside heater 315 in theholding means 311, lamp heaters (heating means) 317 are disposed abovethe holding means 311, and the lamp heaters 317 and a shower head 341-2are integrated. For example, a plurality of ring-shaped lamp heaters 317having different radii are provided concentrically, and many nozzles343-2 of the shower head 341-2 are open in a ring form from the gapsbetween the lamp heaters 317. The lamp heaters 317 may be composed of asingle spiral lamp heater, or may be composed of other lamp heaters ofvarious structures and arrangements.

Even with this constitution, the plating liquid can be supplied fromeach nozzle 343-2 to the surface, to be plated, of the semiconductorsubstrate W substantially uniformly in a shower form. Further, heatingand heat retention of the semiconductor substrate W can be performed bythe lamp heaters 317 directly uniformly. The lamp heaters 317 heat notonly the semiconductor substrate Wand the plating liquid, but alsoambient air, thus exhibiting a heat retention effect on thesemiconductor substrate W.

Direct heating of the semiconductor substrate W by the lamp heaters 317requires the lamp heaters 317 with a relatively large electric powerconsumption. In place of such lamp heaters 317, lamp heaters 317 with arelatively small electric power consumption and the backside heater 315shown in FIG. 36 may-be used in combination to heat the semiconductorsubstrate W mainly with the backside heater 315 and to perform heatretention of the plating liquid and ambient air mainly by the lampheaters 317. In the same manner as in the aforementioned embodiment,means for directly or indirectly cooling the semiconductor substrate Wmay be provided to perform temperature control.

Plating was actually performed using the electroless plating apparatusshown in FIG. 36 and the conventional electroless plating apparatusshown in FIG. 45, and the results were compared. The conditions for andthe results of the experiments are shown below.

[Electroless Cu Plating Sample]

An 8 inch semiconductor substrate has a barrier layer of TaN (30 nm) anda seed layer (film applied all over) of Cu (50 nm) formed on silicon.

[Plating Specifications]

(1) Plating method according to the present invention Process: Asemiconductor substrate W is set on the holding means 311 heated by thebackside heater 315 (70° C.), and the dam member 331 is set on thesemiconductor substrate W. Then, the plating liquid (50° C.) is suppliedfor 5 seconds in an amount of only 30 ml from the shower head 341 insuch a state that the semiconductor substrate W is in a stationarystate. Thereafter, the semiconductor substrate W is rotated at 100 rpmfor only 1 second to wet the surface of the semiconductor substrate Wuniformly with the plating liquid, and the semiconductor substrate W isheld in a stationary state for 1 minute. Then, the plating liquid isrecovered by the plating liquid recovery nozzle 365, and then the dammember 331 is separated from the surface of the semiconductor substrateW. While the semiconductor substrate W is being rotated (800 rpm), thecleaning liquid (ultrapure water) is supplied onto the surface of thesemiconductor substrate W for 30 seconds for water washing, therebystopping a plating reaction. Supply of the cleaning liquid is stopped,and the semiconductor substrate W is spin-dried (1000 rpm, 30 sec) andthen taken out.

(2) Plating method according to a conventional example Process: Asemiconductor substrate W is set on the holding means 81, and a platingliquid of 70° C. is dripped onto the center of the semiconductorsubstrate W for 1 minute (600 ml/min) in such a state that thesemiconductor substrate W is rotated at 40 rpm. After dripping of theplating liquid is finished, a cleaning liquid (ultrapure water) issupplied onto the surface of the semiconductor substrate W for 30seconds, while the semiconductor substrate W is continued to be rotated,thus performing water washing and stopping the plating reaction. Then,the semiconductor substrate W is withdrawn from the holding means 81,and dried separately with a dryer.

FIGS. 46A and 46B are views showing the results of measurement of thefilm thicknesses, on the X axis, of semiconductor substrates W subjectedto the electroless plating according to the above respective methods.FIG. 46A is a view showing electroless Cu film thickness inplanedistribution according to the present plating method, and FIG. 46B is aview showing electroless Cu film thickness inplane distributionaccording to the conventional plating method. In FIGS. 46A and 46B, thehorizontal axis represents locations of the wafer (substrate), while thevertical axis represents the thickness of the plated film. As shown inFIGS. 46A and 46B, in the plating method according to the presentinvention, the film thickness is uniform throughout the semiconductorsubstrate W. Whereas in the plating method according to the conventionalexample, the film thickness is extremely smaller at the center of thesemiconductor substrate W. The plating method according to the presentinvention was verified to improve the inplane uniformity of the platedfilm thickness remarkably.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above, butthe present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, andvarious modifications are possible within the scope of the claims andthe scope of the technical ideas described in the specification anddrawings. For example, the electroless plating apparatus according tothe present invention is not limited to the formation of a seed layerand a copper layer for interconnects, but can be used in the formationof a wiring protective film.

Further, the electroless plating apparatus according to the presentinvention can also be used in the pretreatment step and the catalysttreatment step for electroless plating. That is, in the aboveembodiment, for example, electroless plating was performed by supplyingan electroless plating liquid from the shower head 341 to the surface,to be plated, of the semiconductor substrate W. However, otherelectroless plating treatment liquid for use in the pretreatment step orthe catalyst treatment step for electroless plating may be supplied fromthe shower head 341 before the electroless plating liquid supply step.Thus, these treatment steps can also be performed by this electrolessplating apparatus, together with the electroless plating step.

In the above embodiment, plating was carried out in such a state thatthe plating liquid is held on the surface to be plated, and thesubstrate is kept stationary. However, the substrate may be rotatedslowly to such a degree that uneven plating does not occur.

Furthermore, the shower head is not restrictive, if the plating liquidcan be supplied in a scattered manner to the surface to be plated. Forexample, there may be provided a nozzle which supplies the platingliquid while performing a swinging motion or a translational motion.

In the above embodiment, cleaning was performed in the cleaning stepafter plating by supplying the cleaning liquid while the holding means311 was kept separated from the dam member 331. However, the cleaningmay be performed by supplying the cleaning liquid while the holdingmeans 311 is not separated from the dam member 331, and by causing thecleaning liquid to overflow from the upper edge of the dam member 331.When the plating liquid remaining inside is diluted by supplying thecleaning liquid, the liquid temperature is simultaneously lowered,whereupon the electroless plating reaction comes to an end.Incidentally, the holding means 311 and the dam member 331 may beseparated by raising the dam member 331, instead of lowering the holdingmeans 311.

During heating of the semiconductor substrate W by the backside heater315 (especially during the period from start of heating to contact ofthe plating liquid with the surface), it is desirable to blow an inertgas such as an argon (Ar) gas onto the surface, to be plated, of thesemiconductor substrate W in order to prevent oxidation. If a seed layerformed by sputtering or the like is exposed at the surface of thesemiconductor substrate W, heating of the seed layer may result in theoxidation of the surface of the seed layer. Thus, the use of such a gasis particularly effective when it is attempted to prevent the oxidationand form a plated layer of more uniform film thickness on the seedlayer.

In the above embodiment, the backside heater 315 or the lamp heater 317was used as the heating means for the semiconductor substrate W, but aheater may be further provided at other position close to the substrate.Moreover, instead of using the heater, or in addition to the use of theheater, the temperature of surroundings for performing electrolessplating may be made substantially equal to the electroless platingtreatment temperature (the temperature preferred for plating of thesurface, to be plated which is the reaction surface), whereby heatdissipation can be prevented to keep the treatment temperature constant.In this case, a heated gas may be supplied in the surroundings of thesubstrate, for example.

In the above embodiment, the step of instantaneously rotating thesubstrate was used as the step of bringing the electroless platingtreatment liquid supplied onto the surface, to be plated, of thesubstrate in contact with the surface to be plated. Other steps may beused as the step of spreading the electroless plating treatment liquidall over the surface to be plated, by moving the substrate, or movingthe supplied electroless plating treatment liquid. That is, the step ofmoving the substrate is, for example, to vibrate or swing (shakinglymove) the substrate to which the electroless plating treatment liquid issupplied. The step of moving the supplied electroless plating treatmentliquid is, for example, to rake the supplied electroless platingtreatment liquid by using a raking member, or to blow air onto theliquid surface.

As described in detail above, the second aspect of the present inventionoffers the following excellent effects:

(1) The electroless plating treatment liquid is stored and held on thesurface to be plated for a predetermined time to treat the surface to beplated. Thus, treatment of the surface can be performed using a smallamount of the electroless plating treatment liquid, so that a costreduction can be achieved. Further, a pump of a small size can be usedas a pump for supplying the electroless plating treatment liquid, theelectroless plating apparatus can be made compact, and the cost for aclean room housing the apparatus can be reduced. Since a small amount ofthe electroless plating treatment liquid is used, heating and warmthretention of the electroless plating treatment liquid can be easily andpromptly performed. Furthermore, there is no need to constantly heat alarge amount of the electroless plating treatment liquid, and hencedeterioration of the electroless plating treatment liquid is notpromoted.

(2) Since the amount of the electroless plating treatment liquid usedmay be small, discarding this liquid does not lead to a cost increase. Afresh electroless plating treatment liquid can be always used, and thecomposition of the treatment liquid can be made constant. By-productsgenerated when the liquid is used in a circulated manner are notdeposited in the system, and stable treatment such as plating can becarried out easily. A liquid analyzer or a liquid adjustor for theplating liquid becomes unnecessary, and a decrease in the equipment costand a decrease in the clean room cost can be achieved. Since a largeamount of the electroless plating treatment liquid is not used in acirculated manner, particles are difficult to be generated from theconstituent members of the apparatus, thus obviating the need for afilter.

(3) Because treatment is performed in such a state that the electrolessplating treatment liquid is held on the surface to be plated, thetreatment conditions for the respective parts of the surface to beplated can be equalized, in comparison with a case in which treatment isperformed in such a state that the electroless plating treatment liquidis dripped onto the surface to be plated. Consequently, the inplaneuniformity of the thickness of the resulting plated film can beachieved. Particularly, when treatment is performed in such a state thatthe substrate is in a stationary state, heat dissipation due to theperipheral speed of the substrate does not take place, the reactiontemperature can be uniformized without a fall in the temperature, and astable process can be obtained, in comparison with a case in which thetreatment is performed in such a state that the substrate is rotated.

(4) The electroless plating treatment liquid is brought into contactwith the surface, to be plated, of the substrate in such a state thatthe substrate is heated to a temperature higher than the temperature ofthe electroless plating treatment liquid. Thus, the temperature of theplating liquid requiring a great electric power consumption for heatingneed not be raised so much, and the electric power consumption can bedecreased, and change of the composition of the plating liquid can beprevented.

(5) In the case where electroless plating treatment liquid supply meansis provided above the surface to be plated, and adapted to supply theelectroless plating treatment liquid in a scattered state, theelectroless plating treatment liquid can be simultaneously supplied tothe entire surface, to be plated, of the substrate substantiallyuniformly, and temperature control of the electroless plating treatmentliquid can be performed stably.

(6) The electroless plating apparatus comprises holding means forholding a substrate; a plating liquid holding mechanism for sealing theperiphery of the surface to be plated; and electroless plating treatmentliquid supply means for supplying an electroless plating treatmentliquid to, and storing the electroless plating treatment liquid on, thesurface, to be plated, of the substrate sealed with the plating liquidholding mechanism. Thus, a pretreatment liquid, a catalytic treatmentliquid, an electroless plating liquid or the like can be used as theelectroless plating treatment liquid while switching any of theseliquids, and hence a series of electroless plating steps can be carriedout in a single cell, and the apparatus can be made compact.

Next, a third aspect of the present invention will be described withreference to FIGS. 47 through 56. The third aspect of the presentinvention relates to various substrate processing apparatuses such as asubstrate plating apparatus and a substrate polishing apparatus, andmore particularly to a substrate processing apparatus preferred fordetecting a substrate surface state of a substrate to be treated, suchas film thickness. The present invention is applicable to all substrateprocessing apparatuses that perform transportation and treatment of thesubstrate. Here, an explanation will be made, particularly, for cases inwhich the substrate processing apparatus is applied for measurement offilm thickness in a copper plating apparatus and a CMP apparatus for usein the formation of interconnection of a semiconductor substrate.

FIG. 47 is a plan view showing an example of a plating apparatus towhich the present invention is applied. This plating apparatus comprisestwo wafer cassettes 510, 510 for accommodating a plurality of substratestherein, a transfer robot 514 for withdrawing the substrate from thewafer cassettes 510, 510 and transporting the substrate, and two platingmodules (substrate processing modules) 512, 512, each of which performsa series of plating treatment steps consisting of plating, cleaning anddrying of the substrate by one module. The reference numeral 518 denotesliquid supply equipment with a plating liquid tank 516.

The constitution of the plating module 512 is the same as theconstitution shown in FIG. 14, and hence the module 512 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 14. This plating module 512 can performa series of treatments consisting of plating, cleaning and drying. Thatis, a substrate W is held with a surface thereof to be treated facingupward at three positions A, B and C by a substrate holding portion 2-9.After the substrate W is carried in and placed at the position A, aplating liquid is supplied at the position B onto the surface to betreated in such a state that a cathode electrode 2-17 is connected to anarea close to the outer periphery of the substrate W. An anode electrode(not shown) is brought into contact with the plating liquid from above,and a voltage is applied to perform electroplating. After completion ofplating, the plating liquid on the substrate W is sucked in by a nozzle(not shown). Instead, cleaning water is supplied at the position C, andthe substrate holding portion 2-9 is rotated to spread cleaning water onthe entire surface of the substrate W, thereby performing cleaning.After cleaning, supply of the cleaning water is stopped, and therotational speed of the substrate W is increased to remove the cleaningwater and perform spin-drying. If necessary, a precoating treatment forapplying, for example, a surface active agent may be performed beforeplating, or cleaning in multiple stages may be performed using differentkinds of cleaning liquids. The present invention is not limited to theplating module 512 of the above structure. That is, the plating tank maybe of other type such as a cup type or a closed type. In this case, acleaning tank and a dryer may be provided separately.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 47, the transfer robot 514 has arms542 having forward ends on which respective robot hands 540 areprovided.

Next, the operation of the whole of this plating apparatus will bedescribed. First, the robot hand 540 withdraws the substrate W beforetreatment from one of the wafer cassettes 510, and places it on asubstrate holding portion 521 of one of the plating modules 512. Then,the plating module 512 performs a series of plating treatments asdescribed above, and dries the substrate W. The dried substrate W isreturned again to one of the wafer cassettes 510 by the robot hand 540.

The substrate W before treatment and the substrate W after treatmentpass through around the transfer robot 514. In order to measure the filmthicknesses of both substrates W, in the following embodiments, filmthickness sensors S are provided at the transfer robot 514 itself or inits surroundings, or at a position, such as the interior of the platingmodule 512, where the substrate W before treatment and the substrate Wafter treatment will pass through. Examples of the location and state ofinstallation of the film thickness sensor S will be explained later insummary, and detailed explanations are omitted here.

That is, if the film thickness sensor S is provided at these positions,the film thicknesses of the substrate W (the film thicknesses of allmulti-layer metal films formed on the substrate W) before treatment andafter treatment can be measured, without wasteful operations during aseries of treatment actions. Specifically, when the substrate W passesthrough the film thickness sensor S for the first time, for example, thefilm thickness of the substrate W with the seed layer on its surfacebefore plating is measured. When the substrate W passes through the filmthickness sensor S for the second time, the film thickness of thesubstrate W with a metal film plated on the seed layer is measured. If adifference between the two film thicknesses is found, the plated metalfilm thickness can be measured. Generally, the film thickness of theseed layer is in the range of about several tens of nanometers to 100and tens of nanometers, while the thickness of the plated metal film isabout several micrometers.

Signals from the film thickness sensor S are sent to an arithmetic unitwhere an arithmetic operation, such as calculation of a difference orcalculation of a moving average, is performed for thereby measuring thefilm thickness. The arithmetic unit and the arithmetic method may bearbitrarily selected ones which are preferred for the location of thefilm thickness sensor S, its detection method, and the like.

FIG. 48 is a plan view showing an example of a CMP apparatus to whichthe present invention is applied. This CMP apparatus comprises wafercassettes 531, 531 for loading and unloading, cleaning machines 533,533, 535, and 535 for cleaning substrates, two transfer robots 514 a,514 b, reversing machines 539, 539, and polishing units (substrateprocessing modules) 541, 541.

There are various flows of substrates W, and an example is as follows.First, the transfer robot 514 a withdraws the substrate W beforetreatment from one of the wafer cassettes 531 for loading, and transfersit to one of the reversing machines 539. The transfer robot 514 a onlyrotates without moving from the illustrated position, and is disposed ata position where it can transport the substrate W from the wafercassette 531 to the reversing machine 539. The substrate W has itssurface, to be treated, changed by the reversing machine 539 from anupwardly facing state to a downwardly facing state, and is thentransferred to another transfer robot 514 b. The transfer robot 514 btransfers the substrate W to one of the polishing units 541 where apredetermined polishing is performed. The substrate W after polishing istransported by the transfer robot 514 b to one of the cleaning machines535 where primary cleaning is conducted. The substrate W after primarycleaning is transported by the transfer robot 514 b to one of thereversing machines 539 where its treated surface is turned over to faceupward. Then, the substrate W is transported by the transfer robot 514 ato one of the secondary cleaning machines 533. After secondary cleaningis finished, the substrate W is accommodated again by the transfer robot514 a in the wafer cassette 531 for unloading.

Therefore, in case of this CMP apparatus, the substrate W beforetreatment and the substrate W after treatment pass through near thetransfer robots 514 a, 514 b and the reversing machines 539, 539. Inorder to measure the film thicknesses of both substrates W, in thefollowing embodiments, the film thickness sensor S is disposed at aposition where the substrate W before treatment and the substrate Wafter treatment will pass, such as at the transfer robots 514 a, 514 bper se or the surroundings thereof.

That is, if the film thickness sensors S are installed at thesepositions, the film thicknesses of the substrate W before treatment andafter treatment can be measured, without wasteful operations during aseries of treatment operations. Specifically, for example, the filmthickness of the substrate W before polishing is measured for the firsttime, and the film thickness of the substrate W after polishing ismeasured for the second time. If a difference between the two filmthicknesses is found, the amount of polishing can be measured. Further,if an optical sensor is used, the film thickness of a metal film or aninsulating film can be directly measured, without calculating thedifference.

In some CMP apparatuses, the transfer robots 514 a, 514 b are movable ina direction of an arrow A shown in FIG. 48. The present invention isapplicable to the CMP apparatus having the transfer robots unmovable ormovable.

FIG. 49 is a view showing a plating and CMP apparatus to which thepresent invention is applied. This plating and CMP apparatus isdifferent from the CMP apparatus shown in FIG. 48 in that the platingmodule 512 shown in FIG. 14 is provided in place of one of the cleaningmachines 533, and a spin dryer 534 is provided in place of anothercleaning machine 533.

The flow of a substrate W is, for example, as follows. First, thetransfer robot 514 a withdraws the substrate W before treatment from oneof the wafer cassettes 531 for loading. After plating treatment isperformed by the plating module 512, the transfer robot 514 a transfersthe substrate W to one of the reversing machines 539, which directs itstreated surface downward. Then, the substrate W is transferred to theother transfer robot 514 b. The transfer robot 514 b transfers thesubstrate W to one of the polishing units 541 in which predeterminedpolishing is performed. The substrate W after polishing is withdrawn bythe transfer robot 514 b, and cleaned by one of the cleaning machines535. Then, the substrate W is transferred to the other polishing unit541 where it is polished again, and the substrate W is transported bythe transfer robot 514 b to the other cleaning machine 535 where it iscleaned. The substrate W after cleaning is transported by the transferrobot 514 b to the other reversing machine 539 where its treated surfaceis turned over to face upward. Then, the substrate W is transported bythe transfer robot 514 a to the spin dryer 534 in which spin-drying iscarried out, and the substrate W is accommodated again by the transferrobot 514 a in the wafer cassette 531 for unloading.

With this plating and CMP apparatus, therefore, a film thickness sensorS is installed at a position where the substrate W before treatment andthe substrate W after treatment will pass, such as at the transferrobots 514 a, 514 b per se or the surroundings thereof, or the interiorof the module 512.

Next, a concrete example of the sensor S for film thickness measurementto be installed in the above-mentioned plating apparatus or the CMPapparatus will be described.

FIG. 50 is a perspective view showing the transfer robot 514 illustratedin FIG. 47, and the transfer robots 514 a, 514 b illustrated in FIGS. 48and 49. FIGS. 51A and 51B are views showing a robot hand 540 attached tothe transfer robot 514 (514 a, 514 b), and FIG. 51A is a plan view andFIG. 51B is a side sectional view.

The transfer robot 514 (514 a, 514 b) is constituted by attaching therobot hands 540, 540 to the respective front ends of two arms 542, 542attached to an upper portion of a robot body 543. The two robot hands540, 540 are arranged so as to be placed vertically one above the othervia a predetermined gap. The arms 542 extend and contract to enable asubstrate W placed on the robot hand 540 to be transported in afore-and-aft direction. Also, the robot body 543 rotates and/or moves topermit transportation of the substrate W in an arbitrary direction.

As shown in FIGS. 51A and 51B, four film thickness sensors S aredirectly attached, in a buried state, to the robot hand 540. Any filmthickness sensor S may be used, if it can measure the film thickness.Preferably, an eddy current sensor is used. The eddy current sensorgenerates eddy currents, and detects the frequencies and losses ofelectric currents which have passed through the substrate W andreturned, thereby measuring the film thickness. The eddy current sensoris used in a non-contact manner. An optical sensor is also preferred asthe film thickness sensor S. The optical sensor irradiates a sample withlight, and can directly measure film thickness based on information onreflected light. The optical sensor is capable of measuring filmthickness of not only a metal film, but also an insulating film such asan oxide film. The positions of installation of the film thicknesssensors S are not limited to the illustrated positions, and the filmthickness sensor S is attached in an arbitrary number at a locationwhere measurement is to be made. The robot hand 540 is available as adry hand handling a dry substrate W, or as a wet hand handling a wetsubstrate W. The film thickness sensor S can be attached to either hand.When the transfer robot 514 is used in a plating apparatus as shown inFIG. 47, however, there is need to measure the film thickness of thesubstrate W in such a state that only the seed layer is initiallyformed. Thus, it is necessary to measure the film thickness of thesubstrate W, initially in a dry state, which is placed in the wafercassettes 510, 510. Hence, it is desirable to attach the film thicknesssensor S to the dry hand.

Signals detected by the film thickness sensors S are sent to anarithmetic unit where an arithmetic operation, such as calculation of adifference between the film thickness of the substrate W beforetreatment and the film thickness of the substrate W after treatment, isperformed and the film thickness is outputted onto a predetermineddisplay or the like. Any arithmetic method may be used, if it canmeasure the film thickness appropriately.

According to the present embodiment, since the film thickness can bemeasured while the robot hand 540 is transporting the substrate W, thereis no need to provide a film thickness measuring step separately duringthe substrate treatment process, and the throughput is not decreased.Since the film thickness sensors S are attached to the robot hand 540, aspace saving can be actualized.

FIGS. 52A and 52B are views showing the transfer robots 514, 514 a and514 b illustrated in FIGS. 47 and 48 to which the second example of thepresent invention has been applied. FIG. 52A is a schematic plan view,while FIG. 52B is a schematic side view. As shown in FIGS. 52A and 52B,according to this embodiment, five film thickness sensors S are disposedat a lower portion of the robot hand 540 of the robot body 543. That is,a disk-shaped mounting plate 545 of substantially the same size as thesubstrate W is disposed at the lower portion of the robot hand 540, andthe five film thickness sensors S are attached onto the mounting plate545. The mounting plate 545 is fixed to the robot body 543, but may befixed to other members.

The film thickness sensors S are attached at positions where the filmthickness sensors S do not overlap with the robot hand 540 asillustrated, whereby the film thickness can be measured in a wide areaof the entire substrate W. The present embodiment can also achieve aspace saving, and can perform measurement in a very short time. Bystopping the substrate W above the mounting plate 545, measurement ofthe film thickness at fixed points of the substrate W can be made. Ifthe substrate W on the robot hand 540 is caused to pass over themounting plate 545 without stopping, measurement during scanning becomespossible. Since the film thickness sensors S are integral with the robotbody 543, stable detection can be performed. If the mounting plate 545is fixed to other members, in place of the robot body 543, it becomespossible to adjust the distance between the substrate W and the sensorsby arbitrarily varying the height of the robot hand.

The construction in which signals after detection are sent to thearithmetic unit to measure the film thickness is the same as in theembodiment shown in FIGS. 51A and 51B. However, in the case ofmeasurement simultaneous with scanning, the points of measurement changewith the passage of time, so that it is preferred to performcomputations by the method of moving averages and calculate the filmthickness.

FIGS. 53A and 53B are views showing a third example of the presentinvention. FIG. 53A is a schematic plan view, and FIG. 53B is aschematic side view. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 53A and 53B, threefilm thickness sensors S are provided on an upper portion of an exit andentrance portion 550, for a substrate W, of the plating module 512 shownin FIGS. 14 and 47. That is, a rectangular mounting plate 551 isdisposed above the exit and entrance portion 550, and the three filmthickness sensors S are attached in series to a lower surface of themounting plate 551. The mounting plate 551 may be fixed to the platingmodule 512, or may be fixed to the robot body 543 of the transfer robot514 (not shown), or may be fixed to other members.

According to such a constitution, the film thickness sensors S scan thesubstrate W when the substrate W is placed into and withdrawn from theplating module 512. This is suitable for scan measurement. By providingsome rows of the film thickness sensors S as in this embodiment,moreover, arbitrary points on the substrate W can be measured byscanning. By arbitrarily varying the height of the robot hand,furthermore, it becomes possible to adjust the distance between thesubstrate W and the sensors.

Signals detected by the film thickness sensors S are computed by anarithmetic unit. In the case of scan measurement, it is desirable toperform computation by the method of moving averages as in the secondexample.

When this embodiment is applied to the CMP apparatus, the film thicknesssensors S maybe disposed near the exit and entrance, where the substrateW is introduced and withdrawn, of the polishing unit (substratetreatment module) 541 shown in FIGS. 48 and 49. When the substrate W iscarried into the polishing unit 541, the surface, to be treated, of thesubstrate W faces downward. Thus, it is preferred to dispose the filmthickness sensors S on a lower side of the location of the polishingunit 541 where the substrate W is carried in (of course, even when thefilm thickness sensors S are installed on the upper side of suchlocation, measurement of the film thickness is possible, butinstallation on the lower side results in a higher accuracy). Afterpolishing is completed, the treated surface of the substrate W is in awet state. The use of film thickness sensors capable of measurement evenin a wet condition makes it possible to measure the film thickness bythe same method as in the plating module 512.

FIG. 54 is a schematic front view of a reversing machine 539 and itssurroundings to which a fourth example of the present invention has beenapplied. FIG. 55 is a plan view of reversing arm 553, 553 portions. Asshown in FIGS. 54 and 55, the reversing arms 553, 553 put a substrate Wtherebetween and hold its outer periphery from right and left sides, androtate the substrate W through 180°, thereby turning the substrate over.A circular mounting base 555 is disposed immediately below the reversingarms 553, 553 (reversing stage), and a plurality of film thicknesssensors S are provided on the mounting base 555. The mounting base 555is adapted to be movable upward and downward by a drive mechanism 557.

During reversing of the substrate W, the mounting base 555 waits at aposition, indicated by solid lines, below the substrate W. Before orafter reversing, the mounting base 555 is raised to a position indicatedby dotted lines to bring the film thickness sensors S close to thesubstrate W gripped by the reversing arms 553, 553, thereby measuringthe film thickness.

According to the present embodiment, since there is no restriction suchas the arms 542 of the transfer robot 514, the film thickness sensors Scan be installed at arbitrary positions on the mounting base 555.Further, the mounting base 555 is adapted to be movable upward anddownward, so that the distance between the substrate W and the sensorscan be adjusted at the time of measurement. It is also possible to mountplural types of sensors suitable for the purpose of detection, andchange the distance between the substrate W and the sensors each timemeasurements are made by the respective sensors. However, the mountingbase 555 moves upward and downward, thus requiring certain measuringtime.

FIG. 56 is a sectional view of an essential part of a plating module 512to which a fifth example of the present invention has been applied. Thisplating module 512 is different from the plating module 512 shown inFIG. 14 in only that a mounting base 559 having film thickness sensors Smounted thereon is disposed immediately below a location of a substrateholding portion 2-9 where a substrate W is held (i.e., a plating stage).The film thickness sensors S may be installed at arbitrary locations onthe mounting base 559.

In the present embodiment, the film thickness sensors S are disposedimmediately below the plating stage, so that the film thicknessmeasurement can be made on a real-time basis while plating is beingperformed. Thus, if the results of the measurement are fed back in realtime and reflected in plating, it is possible to perform plating with anextremely high accuracy.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, butthe present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and variousmodifications are possible within the scope of the claims and within thescope of the technical ideas described in the specification anddrawings. That is, the above embodiments have been shown as embodimentsin which sensors for detection of film thickness (film thickness of ametal film or an insulating film) are used as the sensors. However, thepresent invention is not limited to these sensors. By selecting sensorsand computation means according to various purposes, it is permissibleto constitute and use other various sensors for substrate surface statedetection, such as a sensor for detection of presence or absence of ametallic thin film, a sensor for detection of presence or absence ofparticles on a substrate, and a sensor for recognition of a patternformed on a substrate. Furthermore, any shapes or materials, which arenot directly described in the specification and drawings, fall withinthe scope of the technical ideas of the present invention, if theyexhibit the operations and effects of the present invention.

As described in detail above, according to the third aspect of thepresent invention, various substrate surface states such as the metalfilm thickness of the substrate can be detected without stopping orinterrupting the substrate treatment process. Thus, the surface state ofthe substrate can be detected, with high throughput being realized, andthe reliability and rapidity of substrate treatment such as plating orpolishing can be increased.

Further, feedback of the measurement results for adjustment of thesubstrate treatment conditions can be performed promptly, and hence itbecomes possible to perform substrate treatment, such as plating orpolishing, rapidly under optimal treatment conditions.

Furthermore, if a lightweight, and small-sized detection sensor is used,such sensor can be easily attached to a robot hand or the like of aplating apparatus, and the above-mentioned effects can be achieved witha space-saving.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate processingapparatus and method for use in applying various treatments to asemiconductor substrate. The present invention can be utilized in a Cuplating step for forming interconnects on a semiconductor substrate, andin the step of polishing a plated Cu film on a semiconductor substratein the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

FIG. 57 is a view showing plan layout constitution of another embodimentof the semiconductor substrate processing apparatus according to thepresent invention. The plating apparatus is disposed in rectangularfacilities 710, and is constituted so as to plate a semiconductorsubstrate with copper continuously. The facilities 710 have a partitionwall 711 for dividing the facilities 710 into a plating section 712 anda clean section 713. Air can individually be supplied into and exhaustedfrom each of the plating section 712 and the clean section 713. Thepartition wall 711 has a shutter (not shown) capable of opening andclosing. The pressure of the clean section 713 is lower than theatmospheric pressure and higher than the pressure of the plating section712. This can prevent the air in the clean section 713 from flowing outof the facilities 710 and can prevent the air in the plating section 712from flowing into the clean section 713.

In the clean section 713, there are provided two loading and unloadingsections 715 for placing a substrate cassette thereon, and two cleaningunits 716 for cleaning (rinsing) a plated substrate with pure water anddrying. Further, a rotatable fixed-type first transfer robot 717 fortransferring a substrate is provided in the clean section 713. Forexample, the cleaning unit 716 has cleaning liquid supply nozzles forsupplying ultrapure water to both surfaces of a substrate, and spins thesubstrate at a high speed to dewater and dry the substrate. The cleaningunit 716 is provided with a revolution member supporting apparatus shownin FIG. 3 through 6.

On the other hand, in the plating section 712, there are provided twopretreatment units 721 for pretreating a surface of a substrate forplating, and inverting the pretreated substrate by a inverter 720, fourplated film forming units 722 for plating a surface of a substrate withcopper in such a state that the front surface of the substrate facesdownwardly, and two first substrate stages 723 a, 723 b for holding asubstrate placed thereon. Further, a rotatable mobile-type secondtransfer robot 724 for transferring a substrate is provided in theplating section 712.

In the present embodiment, in the clean section 713, there are providedtwo chemical liquid cleaning units 725 for cleaning a plated substratewith chemical liquid, and second substrate stages 726 a, 726 b disposedbetween the chemical liquid cleaning units 725 and the cleaning units716. A rotatable fixed-type third transfer robot 727 for transferring asubstrate is provided between the two chemical liquid cleaning units725.

One of the first substrate stages and one of the second substratestages, i.e., the first substrate stage 723 b and the second substratestage 726 b, are constituted so as to clean the substrate with water.Each of the first substrate stage 723 b and the second substrate stage726 b has an inverter 720 for inverting a substrate.

Thus, the first transfer robot 717 transfers a substrate between thesubstrate cassettes placed on the loading and unloading sections 715,the cleaning units 716, and the second substrate stages 726 a, 726 b.The second transfer robot 724 transfers a substrate between the firstsubstrate stages 723 a, 723 b, the pretreatment units 721, and theplated film forming units 722. The third transfer robot 727 transfers asubstrate between the first substrate stages 723 a, 723 b, the chemicalliquid cleaning units 725, and the second substrate stages 726 a, 726 b.

A container 728 for accommodating substrates for trial operation isdisposed in the facilities 710, and located below the first substratestage 723 a. The second transfer robot 724 takes out a substrate fortrial operation from the container 728, and returns it to the container728 after trial operation. Thus, the container 728 provided in thefacilities 710 for accommodating the substrates for trial operation caneliminate contamination or lowering of the throughput caused byintroduction of substrates for trial operation from the outside whentrial operation is conducted.

As long as the substrates for trial operation can be taken out from thecontainer 728 and returned to the container 728 by any of the transferrobots, the container 728 may be placed anywhere in the facilities 710.However, when the container 728 is disposed in the vicinity of the firstsubstrate stage 723 a, the trial operation can be conducted in such amanner that a substrate for trial operation is pretreated, plated,cleaned and dried, and then returned to the container 728.

The transfer robot 717 has two recess-type hands, respectively forsupporting a peripheral edge of a substrate by a recess. The upper handis used for handling a dry substrate and the lower hand is used forhandling a wet substrate. Each of the transfer robots 724 and 727 hastwo recess-type hands, which are used for handling a wet substrate. Thehands of the transfer robots are not limited to those types describedabove.

In the present embodiment, the plating apparatus comprises the chemicalliquid cleaning units 725 for cleaning a surface of a substrate withchemical liquid such as dilute hydrofluoric acid or hydrogen peroxide.If it is not necessary to clean a plated substrate with chemical liquid,the chemical liquid cleaning units 725 are not required. In this case,the first transfer robot 717 transfers a substrate between the substratecassettes placed on the loading and unloading sections 715, the cleaningunits 716, and the first substrate stages 723 a, 723 b to thus dispensewith the third transfer robot 727 and the second substrate stages 726 a,726 b.

Next, the processing flow of the substrate in the plating apparatusaccording to the present embodiment will be described below. Thesubstrates are accommodated in the cassette in such a state that thefront surface of the substrate (surface on which semiconductor devicesare formed, i.e., surface to be processed) faces upwardly, and thecassette is placed on the loading and unloading section 715. The firsttransfer robot 717 takes out a substrate from the cassette, moves to thesecond substrate stage 726 a, and places the substrate on the secondsubstrate stage 726 a. Then, the third transfer robot 727 transfers thesubstrate from the second substrate stage 726 a to the first substratestage 723 a. Thereafter, the second transfer robot 724 receives thesubstrate from the first substrate stage 723 a and transfers thesubstrate to the pretreatment unit 721. After the pretreatment of thesubstrate is completed in the pretreatment unit 721, the substrate isinverted by the inverter 720 so that the front surface of the substratefaces downwardly, and then transferred to the second transfer robot 724.The second transfer robot 724 transfers the substrate to a head of theplated film forming unit 22.

After the substrate is plated and liquid on the substrate is removed inthe plated film forming unit 722, the substrate is received by thesecond transfer robot 724, which transfers the substrate to the firstsubstrate stage 723 b. The substrate is inverted by the inverter 720provided at the first substrate stage 723 b so that the front surfacefaces upwardly, and then transferred to the chemical liquid cleaningunit 725 by the third transfer robot 727. In the chemical liquidcleaning unit 725, the substrate is cleaned with chemical liquid andrinsed with pure water, and then the liquid on the substrate is removedby spinning. Thereafter, the substrate is transferred to the secondsubstrate stage 726 b by the third transfer robot 727. Next, the firsttransfer robot 717 receives the substrate from the second substratestage 726 b, and transfers the substrate to the cleaning unit 716. Inthe cleaning unit 716, the substrate is rinsed with pure water (includesdeionized water) and then spin-dried. The dried substrate is returned tothe substrate cassette placed on the loading and unloading section 715by the first transfer robot 717.

FIG. 58 shows an air current in the facilities 710. In the clean section713, a fresh external air is introduced through a pipe 730 and pushedinto the clean section 713 through a high-performance filter 731 by afan. Hence, a downflow clean air is supplied from a ceiling 732 a topositions around the cleaning units 716 and the chemical liquid cleaningunits 725. A large part of the supplied clean air is returned from afloor 732 b through a circulation pipe 733 to the ceiling 732 a, andpushed again into the clean section 713 through the high-performancefilter 731 by the fan, to thus circulate in the clean section 713. Apart of the air is discharged from the cleaning units 716 and thechemical liquid units 725 through a pipe 734 to the exterior, so thatthe pressure of the clean section 713 is set to be lower than theatmospheric pressure.

The plating section 712 having the pretreatment units 721 and the platedfilm forming units 722 therein is not a clean section (but acontamination zone). However, it is not acceptable to attach particlesto the surface of the substrate. Therefore, in the plating section 712,a fresh external air is introduced through a pipe 735, and a downflowclean air is pushed into the plating section 712 from a ceiling 737 aside through a high-performance filter 736 by a fan, for therebypreventing particles from being attached to the surface of thesubstrate. However, if the whole flow rate of the down flow clean air issupplied by only an external air supply and exhaust, then enormous airsupply and exhaust are required. Therefore, the air is dischargedthrough a pipe 738 to the exterior, and a large part of the downflow issupplied by a circulating air through a circulation pipe 739 extendedfrom a floor 737 b, in such a state that the pressure of the platingsection 712 is maintained to be lower than the pressure of the cleansection 713.

Thus, the air returned to the ceiling 737 a through the circulation pipe739 is pushed again into the plating section 712 through thehigh-performance filter 736 by the fan. Hence, a clean air is suppliedinto the plating section 712 to thus circulate in the plating section712. In this case, air containing chemical mist or gas emitted from thepretreatment units 721, the plated film forming units 722, the secondtransfer robot 724, and a plating liquid regulating tank 740 isdischarged through the pipe 738 to the exterior. Thus, the pressure ofthe plating section 712 is controlled so as to be lower than thepressure of the clean section 713.

FIG. 59 shows a main part of the plated film forming unit 722. Theplated film forming unit 722 mainly comprises a plating processcontainer 746 in the substantially cylindrical form for holding aplating liquid 745 therein, and a head 747 disposed above the platingprocess container 746 for holding a substrate. In FIG. 59, the head 747is located in a plating position in which a substrate W held by the head747 is lowered.

The plating process container 746 is provided with a plating container750 having a plating chamber 749, which is upwardly opened, for holdinga plating liquid therein. An anode 748 made of residual-phosphoruscopper, for example, is provided at the bottom of the plating chamber749. The anode 748 is held by an anode support 752, which is detachablymounted on the plating container 750, i.e., which is drawably mountedvia a knob 751 provided on the anode support 752. The anode 748 isconnected to an anode of a power supply for plating provided in anexternal control unit. A sealing member 900 for preventing the platingliquid from being leaked is interposed between the front surface of theplating container 750 and the backside surface of a flange 752 a of theanode support 752. Thus, the anode 748 is held by the anode support 752detachably mounted on the plating container 750, causing the anode 748to be easily attached to and detached from the plating container 750 viathe anode support 752. Accordingly, this construction facilitatesmaintenance and replacement of the anode 748, and the like.

The anode 748 is made of copper containing 0.03% to 0.05% phosphorus(residual-phosphorus copper), and hence a black film is formed on theupper surface of the anode 748 as plating proceeds. Such a black filmcan reduce generation of anode slime.

Plating liquid supply nozzles 753 horizontally projecting toward thecenter of the plating chamber 749 are provided on the innercircumferential wall of the plating container 750 at equal intervalsalong the circumferential direction. Each of the plating liquid supplynozzles 753 is communicated with a plating liquid supply passage 754extended vertically through the interior of the plating container 750.In the present embodiment, four circumferentially divided plating liquidreservoirs in an arc-shaped form are provided in the innercircumferential wall of the plating container 750. Each of the platingliquid reservoirs is communicated with the plating liquid supply passage754 located at the central portion along the circumferential directionof the plating liquid reservoir. Each of the plating liquid reservoirshas two plating liquid supply nozzles 753 provided on both ends of theplating liquid reservoir. The plating liquid of the same flow rate isrespectively supplied to each of the plating liquid reservoirs viacontrol valves 756 described later. Therefore, the plating liquid ishomogeneously ejected from each of the plating liquid supply nozzles 753into the plating chamber 749.

Each of the plating liquid supply passages 754 is connected to theplating liquid regulating tank 740 (see FIGS. 58 and 67) via a platingliquid supply pipe 755. Control valves 756 for controlling the backpressure so as to be constant are disposed on each of the plating liquidsupply pipes 755.

Further, the plating container 750 is provided with first plating liquiddischarge ports 757 for withdrawing the plating liquid 745 in theplating chamber 749 from the peripheral portion of the bottom of theplating chamber 749, and second plating liquid discharge ports 759 fordischarging the plating liquid 745 overflowing a weir member 758provided at the upper end of the plating container 750. Each of thefirst plating liquid discharge ports 757 is connected to a reservoir 926(see FIG. 67) via a plating liquid discharge pipe 760 a. A flowcontroller 761 a is provided on the plating liquid discharge pipe 760 a.On the other hand, each of the second plating liquid discharge ports 759is connected to the reservoir 926 via a plating liquid discharge pipe760 b. A flow controller 761 b is provided on the plating liquiddischarge pipe 760 b. The flow controller 761 b may not be provided(FIG. 67 shows an example that omits the flow controller). The platingliquid fed into the reservoir 926 is supplied to the plating liquidregulating tank 740 (see FIG. 58) from the reservoir 926 by a pump 928.In the plating liquid regulating tank 740, the temperature of theplating liquid is adjusted, and the concentration of various componentsin the plating liquid is measured and adjusted. Thereafter, the platingliquid is respectively supplied to the plated film forming unit 722 (seeFIG. 67).

The first plating liquid discharge ports 757 (16 ports in the drawing),which are in circular form having a diameter of 16 mm to 20 mm, forexample, are disposed at equal intervals along the circumferentialdirection. The second plating liquid discharge ports (3 ports in thedrawing) 759 are in arc-shaped form having a central angle of about 25°.

The plating liquid 745 ejected from the plating liquid supply nozzles753 is discharged to the reservoir 726 (see FIG. 59) from one or both ofthe first plating liquid discharge ports 757 and the second liquiddischarge ports 759, for thereby keeping the liquid level of the platingliquid 745 in the plating chamber 749 at a constant value.

A vertical stream regulating ring 762 for damming off a flow of theplating liquid 745 directed outwardly along the horizontal direction isprovided in the plating chamber 749. A horizontal stream regulating ring763 having an outer circumferential end fixed to the plating container750 is provided in the plating chamber 749. The vertical streamregulating ring 762 is connected to the inner circumferential end of thehorizontal stream regulating ring 763.

The plating liquid horizontally ejected from each of the plating liquidsupply nozzles 753 collides with each other at the central portion ofthe plating chamber 749 to form an upward flow and a downward flow. Whenno substrate is held by the head 747, the upward flow pushes up theliquid surface of the plating liquid 745 at the central portion insidethe vertical stream regulating ring 762. When the substrate is lowered,the substrate is firstly brought into contact with the plating liquid745 at the central portion pushed up by the upward flow, and hence airbubbles on the lower surface of the substrate are pushed outwardly. Onthe other hand, the downward flow is changed to a horizontal flowflowing from the central portion of the anode 748 to the peripheralportion of the anode 748 to push away peeled fine pieces of a black filmformed on the surface of the anode 748. The peeled pieces of the blackfilm are passed from the peripheral portion of the anode 748 through thelower portion of the horizontal stream regulating ring 763 to the firstplating liquid discharge ports 757, so that the peeled pieces of theblack film can be prevented from approaching and being attached to thesurface of the substrate to be processed.

In the electroplating, the current density in the plating liquid governsthe thickness of the plated film. Therefore, in order to uniform thethickness of the plated film, it is necessary to uniform thedistribution of the current density in the plating liquid. In thepresent embodiment, as described below, since the peripheral portion ofthe substrate has electrical contacts, the current density of theplating liquid present on the peripheral portion of the substrate tendsto be increased. Therefore, the vertical stream regulating ring 762extended vertically is disposed in the vicinity of the peripheralportion of the substrate, and the horizontal stream regulating ring 763extended horizontally outwardly is disposed below the vertical streamregulating ring 762, for thereby regulating the electric current flowingin the vicinity of the peripheral portion of the substrate. Thus, thesestream regulating rings can reduce local concentration of the electriccurrent and can uniform the current density of the plating liquid tothus prevent the plated film from being thick at the peripheral portionof the substrate.

In the present embodiment, the vertical stream regulating ring and thehorizontal stream regulating ring are used for regulating the electriccurrent around the peripheral portion of the substrate. However, thepresent invention is of course not limited to this example.

On the other hand, the head 747 is provided with a rotatable housing 770in a hollow cylindrical form and a disk-shaped substrate table 771 forholding a substrate W on its lower surface and is rotated together withthe housing 770. A ring-shaped substrate holding member 772 projectingradially inwardly is provided at the lower end of the housing 770. Forexample, the substrate holding member 772 is formed of a packingmaterial and has a tapered surface on a part of its innercircumferential surface for guiding the substrate W. The peripheralportion of the substrate W is held between the substrate holding member772 and the substrate table 771. The substrate table 771 is constitutedas a pressing member for pressing the substrate W against the substrateholding member 772.

FIG. 60 is an enlarged view showing a part of the head 747. As shown inFIG. 60, a ring-shaped lower sealing member 773 is mounted on thesubstrate holding member 772. The lower sealing member 773 projectsinwardly, and the front end of its upper surface projects upwardly in anannular tapered form. An upper sealing member 774 is mounted on theperipheral portion of the lower surface of the substrate table 771. Theupper sealing member 774 has a spired portion projecting downwardly fromthe lower surface of the substrate table 771. Thus, when the substrate Wis held by the substrate holding member 772, the lower surface of thesubstrate W is brought into pressure contact with the lower sealingmember 773, and the upper surface of the substrate W is brought intopressure contact with the upper sealing member 774, for thereby sealingthe peripheral portion of the substrate W reliably.

In the present embodiment, eighty air vent holes 775 having a diameterof 3 mm are formed in the substrate holding member 772 at equalintervals along the circumferential direction. Each of the air ventholes 775 is extended horizontally outwardly and further extendedoutwardly in an upwardly inclined state. The air vent holes 775 areprovided in such a state that, when the head 747 is located in theplating position as shown in FIG. 59, about half of the peripheralopening end of the air vent hole 775 is exposed to the exterior from theliquid surface of the plating liquid 745 in the plating chamber 749. Asdescribed above, the upward flow of the plating liquid 745 in theplating chamber 749 is brought into contact with the substrate W tosweep away air bubbles to the exterior from the central portion of thesubstrate W. Accordingly, the air bubbles swept by the upward flow aresuccessively discharged to the exterior through the air vent holes 775.Thus, air bubbles can be prevented from remaining between the substrateW and the surface of the plating liquid 745.

For example, the angle of inclination of the air vent holes 775 is setto be 30°. When the venting of air is taken into consideration, the airvent holes 775 should preferably have a diameter of 2 mm to 5 mm, andmore preferably about 3 mm. Further, the air vent holes 775 shouldpreferably be inclined upwardly in the outward direction at an angle ofnot less than 20°, and more preferably about 30°.

Further, the peripheral opening end of the air vent holes 775 may belocated fully above the liquid surface of the plating liquid at the timeof plating. The air vent holes 775 may be branched into two holes, oneof which is opened in the vicinity of the liquid surface, and the otherof which is opened at a position fully above the liquid surface. It hasbeen confirmed that, when a gap S between the lower surface of thesubstrate W held on the lower surface of the substrate table 771 and theupper end of the air vent holes 775 is not more than about 1.5 mm, aircan be vented in a short time.

Each of the air vent holes 775 may be provided in any form, e.g., in alinear form, or each of the air vent holes 775 may be branched outwardlyinto two holes.

Further, plate-spring-like contacts 776 for a cathode electrode aredisposed on the substrate holding member 772 of the housing 770. Whenthe substrate W is held on the lower surface of the substrate table 771,the contacts 776 for a cathode electrode energize the substrate W.Feeding contacts (probes) 777 are vertically downwardly provided at theouter circumferential side of the substrate table 771. When thesubstrate table 771 is lowered, each of the feeding contacts 777 feedspower to each of the contacts 776 for a cathode electrode. Since theplating liquid 745 is sealed with a lower sealing member 773 disposedbetween the substrate W and the substrate holding member 772, thecontacts 776 for a cathode electrode and the feeding contacts 777 can beprevented from being brought into contact with the plating liquid 745.

Openings 796 are provided on both sides of the cylindrical surface ofthe housing 770 for allowing the substrate W and the robot hand to passtherethrough (see FIG. 60).

Next, a series of plating processes using the plating apparatusaccording to this embodiment will be described.

A cassette housing a plurality of substrates whose surfaces (surface onwhich semiconductor devices are formed, i.e., surface to be processed)face upward is placed on a loading and unloading sections 715 within thefacilities 710. The recess-type hand of the first transfer robot 717 isinserted into the cassette and holds the substrate, and then takes outthe substrate from the cassette. The first transfer robot 717 whichholds the substrate by the hand rotates about its own axis and placesthe substrate onto the second substrate stage 726 a. Next, the thirdtransfer robot 727 holds the substrate placed on the second substratestage 726 a by the recess-type hand, rotates about its own axis, andthen places the substrate onto the first substrate stage 723 a.

The second transfer robot 724 moves to a position close to the firstsubstrate stage 723 a, and holds the substrate placed on the firstsubstrate stage 723 a by the recess-type hand. Thereafter, the secondtransfer robot 724 holding the substrate rotates toward the pretreatmentunit 721, and transfers the substrate to the substrate chuck of thepretreatment unit 721 through a slit formed in the splash preventivecover for allowing the substrate to pass therethrough.

In the substrate chuck of the pretreatment unit 721, fingers are opened,and the substrate is positioned between the fingers, and then thefingers are closed to hold the substrate. Next, a pretreatment liquidnozzle, which has been in the stand-by position so as not to hinder themovement of the hands of the inverter 720, is rotated to a positionabove and near the center of the substrate. While the substrate chuckholding the substrate is rotated at a medium speed of, for example,about 300 min⁻¹, the pretreatment liquid is supplied through thepretreatment liquid nozzle onto the substrate. When the liquid has beenspeedily spread over the entire surface of the substrate, the rotationalspeed of the substrate is increased to remove excessive pretreatmentliquid on the substrate under a centrifugal force.

After the removal of the liquid from the substrate is completed and thesubstrate chuck is stopped, the hands of the inverter 720 are lowered.The hands hold the substrate, and the fingers of the substrate chuck inthe pretreatment unit 721 are opened to transfer the substrate to theinverter 720. The inverter 720 is raised to a position where the handsof the inverter 720 do not contact the substrate chuck while aninverting operation is performed. Thereafter, the hands of the inverter720 and the substrate are rotated by an angle of 180 degrees about thehorizontal inverting axis, and the surface of the substrate facesdownwardly. The inverter 720 is lowered to a position where thesubstrate is transferred to the second transfer robot 724, and thenstopped.

The hands of the inverter 720 are located at a position below theinverting axis when the hands receive the substrate from the thirdtransfer robot 727 and receives the substrate from the substrate chuckafter the pretreatment. On the other hand, when the hands are invertedabout the inventing axis to transfer the substrate to the secondtransfer robot 724, the hands are located at a position above theinverting axis.

The second transfer robot 724 inserts the recess-type hand into thesplash preventive cover through the slit formed in the cover. Thesubstrate is held by the hands of the inverter 720. The recess-type handis positioned so as to allow the hand to contact the lower peripheraledge portion of the substrate. The hands of the inverter 720 release thesubstrate, and the recess-type hand of the second transfer robot 724holds the substrate with its surface facing downwardly. The secondtransfer robot 724 takes out the substrate from the pretreatment unit721, and moves to one predetermined plated film forming unit 722.

The housing 770 and the substrate table 771 in the plated film formingunit 722 are raised to a position where the substrate is attached ordetached. The substrate table 771 is further lifted to the upper end ofthe housing 770.

The second transfer robot 724 inserts the hand and the substrate intothe housing 770 through the opening 796 formed in the housing 770, andlifts the hand to a position immediately below the substrate table 771.In this state, the hooks are closed by the urging forces of thecompression coil springs (not shown) to thus hold the substrate. Afterthe substrate is held by the hooks, the hand of the second transferrobot 724 is slightly lowered and withdrawn through the opening 796 ofthe housing 770.

Next, the substrate table 771 is lowered, and the substrate is centeredby the tapered portion on the inner side of the substrate holding member772 of the housing 770, placed on the lower sealing member 773 of thesubstrate holding member 772, and further pressed against the uppersealing member 774 near the peripheral portion of the substrate table771 to form a seal for preventing the plating liquid from entering theelectrode contact side. At the same time, the substrate table 771 islowered to press the feeding contacts 777 against the contacts 776 for acathode electrode, thereby achieving reliable contacts.

In this state, when the plating liquid is ejected through the platingliquid supply nozzles 753 in the plating process container 746, theliquid surface in its center portion rises. At the same time, while thesubstrate W and the substrate table 71 are rotated at a medium speed of,for example, 150 min⁻¹, and then lowered by a ball screw or the like.The rotational speed of the substrate is preferably about 100 to 250min⁻¹ from the viewpoint of the removal of air. In this case, after thecentral portion of the substrate comes into contact with the surface ofthe plating liquid 745, the area of contact between the substrate andthe raised liquid surface increases gradually, and then the platingliquid 745 reaches the periphery of the substrate. In the periphery ofthe lower surface of the substrate, the lower sealing member 773projects from the substrate surface, and hence air is likely to be lefton the periphery of the lower surface of the substrate. However, byallowing the plating liquid containing air bubbles to flow to theexterior through air vent holes 775 by the rotation of the housing 770,air bubbles present on the lower surface of the substrate can beremoved. Thus, air bubbles on the lower surface of the substrate can becompletely removed, and uniform plating can be realized. Thepredetermined position where the substrate is plated is such that thesubstrate is immersed in the plating liquid 745 within the platingchamber 749 and the plating liquid does not enter the housing 770through the openings 796 of the housing 770.

When the substrate is lowered to a predetermined position, the housing770 is rotated at a medium speed for several seconds to remove air. Therotational speed of the housing 770 is then changed to a low rotationalspeed of, for example, 100 min⁻¹, and plating current is flowed forelectroplating by utilizing the above anode and the treating face of thesubstrate as the cathode. In this case, the rotational speed is in therange of, for example, 0 to 225 min⁻¹. During the plating process, theplating liquid is continuously fed at a predetermined flow rate throughthe plating liquid supply nozzles 753, is discharged through the firstplating liquid discharge ports 757 and the second plating liquiddischarge ports 759, and is circulated through the plating liquidregulating tank 740. In this case, since the plating thickness isdetermined by the current density and the current feed time, the currentfeed time (plating time) is set according to a desired amount ofdeposition.

This plating time is, for example, 120 to 150 seconds. The platingprocess is carried out, for example, at about 1 A for about 40 seconds,and then, for example, at about 7.4 A for remaining time. Accordingly, aplated film with uniformity can be obtained.

After the completion of the feed of current, the housing 770, thesubstrate W and the substrate table 771 is lifted to a position abovethe surface of the plating liquid 745 within the plating chamber 749 andbelow the upper end of the plating process container cover. Then, thesubstrate is rotated at a high speed of, for example, 500 to 800 min⁻¹to remove the plating liquid from the substrate under a centrifugalforce. After the completion of the removal of the liquid from thesubstrate, the rotation of the housing 770 is stopped so that thehousing 770 faces a predetermined direction. After the housing 770 islifted to the position where the substrate is attachable or detachable,the substrate table 771 is further raised to a position where thesubstrate is attachable or detachable.

When the surface of the plating liquid is raised, the feed rate of theplating liquid is about 10 to 30 liters/min (preferably 20 liters/min),and the plating liquid is discharged through the first plating liquiddischarge ports 757 at a rate of about 3 to 6 liters/min (preferably 5liters/min). During plating, the feed rate of the plating liquid isabout 8 to 20 liters/min (preferably 10 liters/min), and the platingliquid is discharged through the first plating liquid discharge ports757 at a rate of about 3 to 6 liters/min (preferably 5 liters/min), andthrough the second plating liquid discharge ports 759 at a rate of about3 to 6 liters/min (preferably 5 liters/min). When the liquid level islowered after plating, the feed rate of the plating liquid is about 15to 30 liters/min (preferably 20 liters/min), and the plating liquid isdischarged through the first plating liquid discharge ports 757 at arate of about 20 to 30 liters/min (preferably 25 liters/min). Duringstopping of the plating process for a long period of time, the platingliquid is fed at a rate of about 2 to 4 liters/min (preferably 3liters/min), and is entirely flowed and circulated through the secondplating liquid discharge ports 759.

Next, the hand of the second transfer robot 724 is inserted into thehousing 770 through the opening 796 of the housing 770, and is raised toa position where the hand receives the substrate. Then the hooks areopened, whereby the substrate held by the hooks is dropped on therecess-type hand. In this state, the hand is slightly lowered, and thehand and the substrate held by the hand are taken out through theopening 796 of the housing 770. The substrate is held in such a mannerthat the surface of the substrate faces downwardly and only theperipheral edge of the substrate is brought into contact with the hand,as with mounting the substrate with the hand.

The substrate held by the second transfer robot 724 is transferred tothe inverter 720 in the first substrate stage 723 b in such a state thatthe surface of the substrate faces downwardly. The inverter 720 hold theperiphery of the substrate by the two hands, and ultrapure water issupplied to both surfaces of the substrate to rinse the substrate. Andthen substrate is rotated by 180 degrees around the horizontal invertingaxis so that the surface of the substrate faces upwardly. Next, thethird transfer robot 727 holds the substrate placed on the inverter 720in the first substrate stage 723 b by the hand, and transfers thesubstrate to the chemical liquid cleaning unit 725.

In the chemical liquid cleaning unit 725, the substrate is held by sixfingers, and the substrate is rotated so that the surface of thesubstrate faces upwardly, and then the surface, edge and backside of thesubstrate are cleaned with a chemical liquid. After the completion ofcleaning of the substrate with the chemical liquid, the substrate isrinsed with ultrapure water, and then the substrate held by the fingersis rotated at a high speed to remove the liquid from the substrate.

After the completion of the removal of the liquid from the substrate,the third transfer robot 727 takes out the substrate by the hand in sucha state that the surface of the substrate faces upwardly. The substrateis then placed on the second substrate stage 726 b. In the secondsubstrate stage 726 b, the substrate is further rinsed with ultrapurewater.

Next, the first transfer robot 717 receives the substrate from thesecond substrate stage 726 b by the hand, and transfers the substrate tothe cleaning unit 716. In the cleaning unit 716, the surface andbackside of the substrate are cleaned with ultrapure water (includesdeionized water), and then the substrate is rotated at a high speed toremove the liquid from the substrate and then to be dried. The firsttransfer robot 717 holds the substrate by the hand in such a manner thatthe surface of the substrate faces upwardly, and transfers the substrateat a predetermined position in the cassette on the loading and unloadingsection 715.

FIG. 61 shows another embodiment of a plated film forming unit 722. Thisembodiment is different from the above-mentioned embodiment in thefollowing. A labyrinth seal 912 comprising a large number of grooves 910arranged in parallel is provided around the inlet of the anode support752 which is removably mounted in the plating container 750 through aknob 751 and holds an anode 748. An inert gas introduction passage 914for introducing inert gas such as nitrogen gas is connected to one ofthe grooves 910, one ends of plating liquid return passages 916 areconnected to the bottoms of all the grooves 910, and the other ends ofthe plating liquid return passages 916 are connected to a plating liquidreservoir 918 which stores an overflowed plating liquid and is open tothe air. The other construction is the same as that of the firstembodiment.

Thus, the provision of the labyrinth seal 912 comprising a plurality ofgrooves 910 around the inlet of the anode support 752 in the platingcontainer 750 can eliminate the need to tighten the sealing member 900by large force, and can ensure reliable sealing of the gap between theplating container 750 and the anode support 752 to prevent the platingliquid from leaking out. The inert gas introduction passage 914 isconnected to one of the grooves 910, the plating liquid return passages916 are connected to the bottoms of all the grooves 910, and inert gas,such as nitrogen gas, having a pressure high enough to discharge theplating liquid remaining within the grooves 910 is introduced to thegroove 910 through the inert gas introduction passage 914. Thus, theplating liquid remaining within the grooves 910 can be discharged to theexterior, and a deterioration in the effect of the labyrinth seal 912 bythe plating liquid remaining within the groove 910 can be prevented.

In this embodiment, the labyrinth seal 912 comprising a plurality ofgrooves 910 is provided on the plating container side. Alternatively,the labyrinth seal may be provided on the anode support side or on boththe plating container side and the anode support side.

FIG. 62 schematically shows another embodiment of a plated film formingunit 722. In the plated film forming unit 722 shown in FIGS. 59 and 60,the transfer of the substrate is performed by moving the housing 770 upand down. In the a plated film forming unit 722 of this embodiment, theliquid level of the plating liquid within the plating process containeris raised or lowered to transfer the substrate without the verticalmovement of the housing 770.

When this plated film forming unit 722 is provided, the second transferrobot 24 shown in FIG. 57 which is mobile type and rotatable may have asuction-type hand which holds the substrate by suction and is rotatableto change the suction surface of the suction-type hand to face upwardlyor downwardly.

The plated film forming unit 722 according to this embodiment will bedescribed below. The parts or components identical to or correspondingto the parts or components in the plated film forming unit 722 shown inFIGS. 59 and 60 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a partof the explanation thereof will be omitted.

The plated film forming unit 722 comprises a plating process container746 and a head 747. The plating container 750 of the plating processcontainer 746 has first plating liquid discharge ports (not shown) whichare located around the anode 748 and are opened at the bottom of theplating container 750, and second plating liquid discharge ports 759 fordischarging the plating liquid 745 which have overflowed a weir member758 in the plating container 750. Further, the plating container 750 hasthird plating liquid discharge ports 820 which are open at a stepportion 750 a provided at the halfway along the height direction of thecircumferential wall of the weir member 758. A shut-off valve 822 isprovided in a plating liquid discharge pipe 821 extending from the thirdplating liquid discharge ports 820 to the reservoir 926 (see FIG. 67).

With this construction, a plane defined by the upper end of the weirmember 758 in the plating container 750 constitutes a liquid level A forplating, while a plane defined by the step portion 750 a constitutes aliquid level B for transferring the substrate. Specifically, at the timeof plating process, the shut-off valve 822 is closed, and the platingliquid is ejected through the plating liquid supply nozzles 753 to raisethe liquid level of the plating liquid 745 within the plating chamber749, and overflows the upper end of the weir member 758 in the platingcontainer 750, thereby maintaining the liquid level at the liquid levelA for plating. After the completion of the plating process, the shut-offvalve 822 is opened to discharge the plating liquid 745 within theplating chamber 749 through the third plating liquid discharge ports820, thereby bringing the liquid level to the liquid level B fortransferring the substrate.

Thus, by immersing the anode 748 in the plating liquid 745 in a periodother than during the plating process, a black film formed on thesurface of the anode 748 can be prevented from being dried and oxidized,and the plating process can be stably carried out.

When the substrate W is held by the substrate holding member 772provided at the lower end of the housing 770, the housing 770 of thehead 747 is not vertically movable, but is rotatable about its own axis,and the substrate W is located at a position between the liquid level Afor plating and the liquid level B for transferring the substrate. Thesubstrate table 771 is not provided with any means for holding thesubstrate, and the substrate W is placed on the substrate holding member772 of the housing 770, and then the substrate table 771 is lowered tosandwich the peripheral portion of the substrate W between the substrateholding member 772 and the lower peripheral portion of the substratetable 771, thereby holding the substrate W.

Next, a substrate processing performed by the substrate processingapparatus provided with the substrate holding member 722 will bedescribed below. This embodiment is substantially the same as theabove-mentioned embodiments, except for transfer of the substratethrough the second transfer robot 724 and the process in the plated filmforming unit 722. Therefore, only the different construction andoperation will be described.

First, the substrate placed on the first substrate stage 723 a in such amanner that the surface of the substrate faces upwardly, is transferredto the pretreatment unit 721 in the following manner. The secondtransfer robot 724 holds the substrate in such a manner that thesuction-type hand with the suction surface facing upward attracts thebackside of the substrate by suction, and rotates toward thepretreatment unit 721. The substrate and the suction-type hand areinserted into the pretreatment unit 721 through a slit formed in thesplash preventive cover in the pretreatment unit 721, and the substrateis positioned between two opened hands of the inverter 720 in thepretreatment unit 721.

Further, the second transfer robot 724 receives the substrate from thepretreatment unit 721 in the following manner. The suction-type hand ofthe second transfer robot 724 with the suction surface facing downwardis inserted into the pretreatment unit 721 through the slit of thesplash preventive cover in the pretreatment unit 721. The suction-typehand is then positioned immediately above the substrate held by thehands of the inverter 720 in the pretreatment unit 721. The suction-typehand attracts the backside of the substrate by vacuum suction, and thehands of the inverter 720 are opened. Thus, the substrate with thesurface facing downward is held completely by the suction-type hand ofthe second transfer robot 724.

The substrate is transferred to the plated film forming unit 722 in thefollowing manner. The suction-type hand of the second transfer robot 724and the substrate W held by the suction-type hand in such a manner thesurface of the substrate faces downwardly, are inserted into the housing770 through the opening 796 of the housing 770. The suction-type hand isthen moved downwardly, and the vacuum suction is released to place thesubstrate W on the substrate holding member 772 of the housing 770.Thereafter, the suction-type hand is raised and withdrawn from thehousing 770. Next, the substrate table 771 is lowered to sandwich theperipheral portion of the substrate W between the substrate holdingmember 772 and the lower peripheral portion of the substrate table 771,thereby holding the substrate W.

Thereafter, the plating liquid discharge pipe 821 connected to the thirdplating liquid discharge ports 820 is closed by the shut-off valve 822,and the plating liquid is ejected through the plating liquid supplynozzles 753. At the same time, the housing 770 and the substrate W heldby the housing 770 are rotated at a medium speed. After the platingliquid reaches a predetermined level and several seconds have elapsed,the rotational speed of the housing 770 is changed to a low rotationalspeed of, for example, 100 min⁻¹, and a plating current is flowed,thereby performing electroplating by utilizing the anode 48 as the anodeand the processing face of the substrate as the cathode.

After the completion of the supply of current, the shut-off valve 822 isopened to discharge, through the third plating liquid discharge ports820, the plating liquid 745 present at a position above the step portion750 a to the reservoir 926. Thus, the housing 770 and the substrate heldby the housing 770 are located above the liquid level of the platingliquid and exposed to the atmosphere. In the state that the housing 770and the substrate W held by the housing 770 are located above the liquidlevel of the plating liquid, the housing 770 and the substrate W arerotated at a high speed of, for example, 500 to 800 min⁻¹ to remove theplating liquid from the substrate under a centrifugal force. After thecompletion of the removal of the plating liquid from the substrate, therotation of the housing 770 is stopped at a position where the housing770 faces a predetermined direction.

After the rotation of the housing 770 is completely stopped, thesubstrate table 771 is raised to a position where the substrate isdetached or attached. Next, the suction-type hand of the second transferrobot 724 with the suction surface facing downwardly is inserted intothe housing 770 through the opening 796 of the housing 770, and islowered to a position where the suction-type hand can hold the substrateby suction. The substrate is then held by vacuum suction by thesuction-type hand, and the suction-type hand is then moved to a positionabove the opening 796 of the housing 770. Thereafter, the suction-typehand and the substrate held by the suction-type hand are withdrawn fromthe housing 770 through the opening 796 of the housing 770.

According to this embodiment, the mechanism of the head 747 can besimplified and compact. In addition, the plating process is carried outwhen the surface of the plating liquid within the plating processcontainer 746 is on a liquid level A for plating, while the substrate isdewatered and transferred when the surface of the plating liquid is on aliquid level B for transferring the substrate. Further, it is possibleto prevent a black film formed on the surface of the anode 748 frombeing dried and oxidized. Further, since the position of the substratewhich is plated is the same as the position of the substrate from whichan excessive plating liquid is removed by rotation of the substrate, theposition for performing mist-splash prevention can be lowered.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the following process may be performed.When the surface of the plating liquid is on the liquid level B fortransferring the substrate, the substrate W is inserted into the housing770 and held by the housing 770, and then the liquid level of theplating liquid is raised to the liquid level A for plating. At the sametime, the housing 770 is raised by a certain distance. After the surfaceof the plating liquid is raised to the liquid level A for plating, thehousing 770 is rotated at a medium speed of, for example, 150 min⁻¹ andlowered, whereby the substrate W is brought into contact with thesurface of the plating liquid which rises at its central portion. Thus,air bubbles on the surface of the substrate can be positively removedtherefrom.

FIG. 63 shows another embodiment of a plated film forming unit 722. Theplated film forming unit 722 is different from the plated film formingunit 722 shown in FIG. 62 in that a pressing ring 830 is used, insteadof the substrate table 771 constituting a pressing member for pressingthe substrate of the plated film forming unit 722 shown in FIG. 62, andactuators 831 such as a cylinder for vertically moving the pressing ring830 are housed in the housing 770.

According to this embodiment, when the actuators 831 are actuated tolower the pressing ring 830, the peripheral portion of the substrate issandwiched between the substrate holding member 772 of the housing 770and the lower surface of the pressing ring 830, and hence the substrateW is held. The substrate can be released by raising the pressing ring830.

FIG. 64 shows another embodiment of a plated film forming unit 722. Theplated film forming unit 722 is different from the plated film formingunit 722 shown in FIG. 62 in that a clamp mechanism 841 having swinglinks 842 is used, instead of the substrate table 771 constituting apressing member for pressing the substrate of the plated film formingunit 722 shown in FIG. 62, and the clamp mechanism 841 is housed withinthe housing 770 in its lower part.

According to this embodiment, when the swing links 842 are swung inwardthrough the clamp mechanism 841 so as to be located in the horizontaldirection, the peripheral portion of the substrate is sandwiched betweenthe substrate holding member 772 of the housing 770 and the swing links842, and hence the substrate W is held. When the swing links 842 areswung outward so as to be located in the vertical direction, thesubstrate is released. At the same time, it is possible to prevent theswing links 842 from hindering the withdrawal of the substrate W.

FIG. 65 shows another embodiment of a plated film forming unit 722. Theplated film forming unit 722 is different from the plated film formingunit 722 shown in FIG. 62 in that an elastic member 850 which iselastically deformable, i.e., expandable or contractable by pneumaticpressure, is used, instead of the substrate table 771 constituting apressing member for pressing the substrate of the plated film formingunit 722 shown in FIG. 62, and this elastic member 850 is housed withinthe housing 770 in its lower part.

According to this embodiment, by expanding the elastic member 850 bypneumatic pressure, the peripheral portion of the substrate issandwiched between the substrate holding member 772 of the housing 770and the elastic member 850, and hence the substrate W is held. Thesubstrate can be released by discharging air from the elastic member850. At the same time, it is possible to prevent the elastic member 850from hindering the withdrawal of the substrate W.

FIG. 66 shows the whole construction of another embodiment of a platedfilm forming unit 722. FIG. 67 shows a flow diagram of a plating liquidin a plating apparatus having the plated film forming unit 722. Theparts or components identical to or corresponding to the parts orcomponents in the plated film forming units according to the aboveembodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and a part ofthe explanation thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 66, the plated film forming unit is composed mainly ofa plating process container 746 which is substantially cylindrical andcontains a plating liquid 745 therein, and a head 747 disposed above theplating process container 746 for holding the substrate W. In FIG. 66,the plated film forming unit is in such a state that the substrate W isheld by the head 747 and the surface of the plating liquid 745 is on theliquid level for plating.

The plating process container 746 has a plating chamber 749 which isopen upward and has an anode 748 at the bottom thereof. A platingcontainer 750 containing the plating liquid 745 is provided within theplating chamber 749. Plating liquid supply nozzles 753, which projecthorizontally toward the center of the plating chamber 749, are disposedat circumferentially equal intervals on the inner circumferential wallof the plating container 750. The plating liquid supply nozzles 753communicate with plating liquid supply passages 754 (see FIG. 59)extending vertically within the plating container 750.

As shown in FIG. 67, the plating liquid supply passages 754 areconnected to the plating liquid regulating tank 740 (see FIG. 58)through the plating liquid supply pipes 755. Control valves 756 forcontrolling the back pressure so as to be constant are disposed on eachof the plating liquid supply pipes 755.

Further, according to this embodiment, a punch plate 920 having a largenumber of holes with a size of, for example, about 3 mm is disposed at aposition above the anode 748 within the plating chamber 749. The punchplate 920 prevents a black film formed on the surface of the anode 748from curling up by the plating liquid 745 and consequently being flowedout.

The plating container 750 has first plating liquid discharge ports 757for withdrawing the plating liquid 745 contained in the plating chamber749 from the peripheral portion of the bottom in the plating chamber749, and second plating liquid discharge ports 759 for discharging theplating liquid 745 which has overflowed a weir member 758 provided atthe upper end of the plating container 750. Further, the platingcontainer 750 has third plating liquid discharge ports 820 fordischarging the plating liquid before overflowing the weir member 758.The plating liquid which has flowed through the second plating liquiddischarge ports 759 and the third plating liquid discharge ports 820join at the lower end of the plating container 750, and then isdischarged from the plating container 750. Instead of providing thethird plating liquid discharge ports 820, as shown in FIGS. 72A through72D, the weir member 758 may have, in its lower part, openings 922having a predetermined width at predetermined intervals so that theplating liquid 745 passes through the openings 922 and is thendischarged to the second plating liquid discharge ports 759.

With this arrangement, when the amount of plating liquid supplied islarge during plating, the plating liquid is discharged to the exteriorthrough the third plating liquid discharge ports 820 or is passedthrough the openings 922 and discharged to the exterior through thesecond plating liquid discharge ports 759 and, in addition, as shown inFIG. 72A, the plating liquid overflowing the weir member 758 isdischarged to the exterior through the second plating liquid dischargeports 759. On the other hand, during plating, when the amount of platingliquid supplied is small, the plating liquid is discharged to theexterior through the third plating liquid discharge ports 820, oralternatively as shown in FIG. 72B, the plating liquid is passed throughthe openings 922 and discharged to the exterior through the secondplating liquid discharge ports 759. In this manner, this constructioncan easily cope with the case where the amount of plating liquidsupplied is large or small.

Further, as shown in FIG. 72D, through holes 924 for controlling theliquid level, which are located above the plating liquid supply nozzles753 and communicate with the plating chamber 749 and the second platingliquid discharge ports 759, are provided at circumferentiallypredetermined pitches. Thus, when plating is not performed, the platingliquid is passed through the through holes 924, and is discharged to theexterior through the second plating liquid discharge ports 759, therebycontrolling the liquid level of the plating liquid. During plating, thethrough holes 924 serve as an orifice for restricting the amount of theplating liquid flowing therethrough.

As shown in FIG. 67, the first plating liquid discharge ports 757 areconnected to the reservoir 926 through the plating liquid discharge pipe760 a, and a flow controller 761 a is provided in the plating liquiddischarge pipe 760 a. The second plating liquid discharge ports 759 andthe third plating liquid discharge ports 820 join with each other withinthe plating container 750, and the joined passage is then connecteddirectly to the reservoir 926 through the plating liquid discharge pipe760 b.

The reservoir 926 is constructed so that the plating liquid from all theother plated film forming units flows into the reservoir 926. Theplating liquid which has flowed into the reservoir 926 is introduced bya pump 928 into the plating liquid regulating tank 740 (see FIG. 58).This plating liquid regulating tank 740 is provided with a temperaturecontroller 930, and a plating liquid analyzing unit 932 for sampling theplating liquid and analyzing the sample liquid. When a single pump 934is operated, the plating liquid is supplied from the plating liquidregulating tank 740 through the filter 936 to the plating liquid supplynozzles 753 in each of the plated film forming units. A control valve756 is provided in the plating liquid supply pipe 755 extending from theplating liquid regulating tank 740 to each of the plated film formingunits. This control valve 756 serves to make the pressure on thesecondary side constant, and, even when one plated film forming unit isstopped, the control valve 756 can make the supply pressure of theplating liquid in the other plated film forming units constant.

Thus, a plating liquid prepared in a plating liquid regulating tank 740in a single plating process system is fed to a plurality of plated filmforming units through a single pump 934. The plating liquid preparationtank 740 having a large capacity is used in the plating process systemto prepare a plating liquid. With this arrangement, the plating liquidis fed to each of the plated film forming units while controlling theflow rate in each of the plated film forming units through controlvalves 756, and a variation of the plating liquid in quality can besuppressed.

A vertical stream regulating ring 762 and a horizontal stream regulatingring 763 are disposed within the plating chamber 749 at a position nearthe internal circumference of the plating chamber 749, and the centralportion of the liquid surface is pushed up by an upward stream out oftwo divided upward and downward streams of the plating liquid 745 withinthe plating chamber 749, whereby the downward flow is smoothed and thedistribution of the current density is made further uniform. Thehorizontal stream regulating ring 763 has a peripheral portion which isfixed to the plating container 750, and the vertical stream regulatingring 762 is connected to the horizontal stream regulating ring 763.

On the other hand, the head 747 comprises a housing 770 which is arotatable and cylindrical receptacle having a downwardly open end andhas openings 796 on the circumferential wall, and vertically movablepressing rods 942 having, in their lower end, a pressing ring 940. Asshown in FIG. 71, an inwardly projecting ring-shaped substrate holdingmember 772 is provided at the lower end of the housing 770. Aring-shaped sealing member 944 is mounted on the substrate holdingmember 772. The ring-shaped sealing member 944 projects inward, and thefront end of the top surface in the ring-shaped sealing member 944projects upward in an annular tapered form. Further, contacts 776 for acathode electrode are disposed above the sealing member 944. Air ventholes 775, which extend outwardly in the horizontal direction andfurther extend outwardly in an upwardly inclined state, are provided inthe substrate holding member 772 at circumferentially equal intervals.The contacts 776 for a cathode electrode and the air vent holes 775 arethe same as those shown in FIGS. 59 and 60.

With this arrangement, as shown in FIG. 68, the liquid level of theplating liquid is lowered, and as shown in FIGS. 70 and 71, thesubstrate W is held by a robot hand H or the like, and inserted into thehousing 770 where the substrate W is placed on the upper surface of thesealing member 944 of the substrate holding member 772. Thereafter, therobot hand H is withdrawn from the housing 770, and the pressing ring940 is then lowered to sandwich the peripheral portion of the substrateW between the sealing member 944 and the lower surface of the pressingring 940, thereby holding the substrate W. In addition, upon holding ofthe substrate W, the lower surface of the substrate W is brought intopressure contact with the sealing member 944 to seal this contactportion positively. At the same time, current flows between thesubstrate W and the contacts 776 for a cathode electrode.

Returning to FIG. 66, the housing 770 is connected to an output shaft948 of a motor 946, and rotated by energization of the motor 946. Thepressing rods 942 are vertically provided at predetermined positionsalong the circumferential direction of a ring-shaped support frame 958rotatably mounted through a bearing 956 on the lower end of a slider954. The slider 954 is vertically movable by actuation of a cylinder952, with a guide, fixed to a support 950 surrounding the motor 946.With this construction, the pressing rods 942 are vertically movable bythe actuation of the cylinder 952, and, in addition, upon the holding ofthe substrate W, the pressing rods 942 are rotated integrally with thehousing 770.

The support 950 is mounted on a slide base 962 which is engaged with aball screw 961 and vertically movable by the ball screw 961 rotated byenergization of the motor 960. The support 950 is surrounded by an upperhousing 964, and is vertically movable together with the upper housing964 by energization of the motor 960. Further, a lower housing 957 forsurrounding the housing 770 during plating is mounted on the uppersurface of the plating container 750.

With this construction, as shown in FIG. 68, maintenance can beperformed in such a state that the support 950 and the upper housing 964are raised. A crystal of the plating liquid is likely to deposit on theinner circumferential surface of the weir member 758. However, thesupport 950 and the upper housing 964 are raised, a large amount of theplating liquid is flowed and overflows the weir member 758, and hencethe crystal of the plating liquid is prevented from being deposited onthe inner circumferential surface of the weir member 758. A cover 750 bfor preventing the splash of the plating liquid is integrally providedin the plating container 750 to cover a portion above the plating liquidwhich overflows during plating process. By coating anultra-water-repellent material such as HIREC (manufactured by NTTAdvance Technology) on the lower surface of the cover 750 b forpreventing the splash of the plating liquid, the crystal of the platingliquid can be prevented from being deposited on the lower surface of thecover 750 b.

Substrate centering mechanisms 970 located above the substrate holdingmember 772 of the housing 770 for performing centering of the substrateW, are provided at four places along the circumferential direction inthis embodiment.

FIG. 73 shows the substrate centering mechanism 970 in detail. Thesubstrate centering mechanism 970 comprises a gate-like bracket 972fixed to the housing 770, and a positioning block 974 disposed withinthe bracket 972. This positioning block 974 is swingably mounted througha support shaft 976 horizontally fixed to the bracket 972. Further, acompression coil spring 978 is interposed between the housing 770 andthe positioning block 974. Thus, the positioning block 974 is urged bythe compression coil spring 978 so that the positioning block 974rotates about the support shaft 976 and the lower portion of thepositioning block 974 projects inwardly. The upper surface 974 a of thepositioning block 974 serves as a stopper, and is brought into connectwith the lower surface 972 a of the bracket 972 to restrict the movementof the positioning block 974. Further, the positioning block 974 has atapered inner surface 974 b which is widened outward in the upwarddirection.

With this construction, a substrate is held by the hand of a transferrobot or the like, is carried into the housing 770, and is placed on thesubstrate holding member 772. In this case, when the center of thesubstrate deviates from the center of the substrate holding member 772,the positioning block 974 is rotated outwardly against the urging forceof the compression coil spring 978 and, upon the release of holding ofthe substrate from the hand of the transfer robot or the like, thepositioning block 974 is returned to the original position by the urgingforce of the compression coil spring 978. Thus, the centering of thesubstrate can be carried out.

FIG. 74 shows a feeding contact (a probe) 777 for feeding power to acathode electrode plate 908 of a contact 776 for a cathode electrode.This feeding contact 777 is composed of a plunger and is surrounded by acylindrical protective member 980 extending to the cathode electrodeplate 908, whereby the feeding contact 777 is protected against theplating liquid.

In the substrate processing apparatus employing the plated film formingunit, as described above, when the surface of the plating liquid is on alow level for transferring the substrate as shown in FIG. 68, thesubstrate is inserted into and held within the housing 770. In thisstate, the liquid level of the plating liquid is raised and thesubstrate is plated. Thereafter, the liquid level of the plating liquidis lowered, and the plated substrate is withdrawn from the housing 770.Further, maintenance is carried out in such a state that the support 950and the upper housing 964 are raised. In this state, if necessary, alarge amount of the plating liquid is flowed and overflows the weirmember 758, thereby preventing a crystal of the plating liquid frombeing deposited on the inner circumferential surface of the weir member758.

Further, in this embodiment, the following process may be performed.When the surface of the plating liquid is on the liquid level B fortransferring the substrate, the substrate W is inserted into the housing770 and held by the housing 770, and then the liquid level of theplating liquid is raised to the liquid level A for plating. At the sametime, the housing 770 is raised by a certain distance. After the liquidlevel of the polishing solution reaches the liquid level A for plating,the housing 770 is rotated at a medium speed of, for example, 150 min⁻¹and lowered, whereby the substrate W is brought into contact with thesurface of the plating liquid which rises at its central portion. Thus,air bubbles on the surface of the substrate can be positively removedtherefrom.

In the above embodiments, a pre-dipping process is employed in thepretreatment unit, and a pretreatment liquid (a pre-dipping liquid)which is one component of the plating liquid is uniformly coated toimprove adhesive property of plating on the surface, to be plated, ofthe substrate on which a barrier layer and a seed layer are successivelyprovided. Alternatively, a pre-plating method in which a pre-plating isapplied to reinforce an incomplete seed layer onto the surface, to beplated, of the substrate on which a barrier layer and a seed layer aresuccessively provided may be used.

FIG. 75 shows another embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus inaccordance with the present invention which employs the pre-platingmethod and is provided with a pre-plating unit 980. The pre-plating unit980 has a similar structure to the plated film forming unit 722, anduses a weak alkaline high-polarization liquid of copper pyrophosphate asa plating liquid, and pure copper (oxygen-free copper) as an anode.According to this embodiment, one of the plated film forming units 722shown in FIG. 57 is replaced with the pre-plating unit 980 forperforming pre-plating of a substrate to reinforce the incomplete seedlayer. The pre-plated substrate is then subjected to the platingtreatment in the plated film forming unit 722.

While the plating liquid for use in the pre-plating unit 980 isalkaline, the plating liquid for use in the plated film forming unit 722is acidic. It is therefore necessary to take a measure not to bring thealkaline plating liquid, which has adhered to the substrate in thepre-plating unit 980, to the plated film forming unit 722. In thisregard, according to this embodiment, a cleaning unit 982 is provided inthe plating section 712 (see FIG. 57) for washing by water the substratewhich has undergone the pre-plating in the pre-plating unit 982. Thecleaned substrate is then transferred to the plated film forming unit722 for plating of the substrate.

Further in this embodiment, a bevel-backside cleaning unit 984 and anannealing unit 986 are provided. In the bevel-backside cleaning unit984, the unnecessary Cu film (seed layer) in the edge portion of thesemiconductor substrate is removed, and the substrate is rinsed withwater and then spin-dried by rotating the substrate at a high speed.Thereafter, the dried substrate is transferred to the annealing unit 986for annealing the substrate.

FIG. 76 shows yet another embodiment of a semiconductor substrateprocessing apparatus in accordance with the present invention. Theapparatus is provided with three loading and unloading sections 715. Amovable first robot 717, for exclusive use for the loading and unloadingsections, is provided between the loading and unloading sections 715 anda temporary storage 728 for transferring a substrate therebetween. Threeplated film forming units 722 are disposed in series in a plating area990 on one side of a movable second robot 724. On the opposite side ofthe second robot 724 are disposed, in series, two bevel-backsidecleaning units 984 and one annealing unit 986. The second robot 724transfers the substrate between the plated film forming units 722, thebevel-backside cleaning units 984, the annealing unit 986 and thetemporary storage 728.

According to this embodiment, loading and unloading of the substratebetween the loading and unloading sections 715 and the temporary storage728 are conducted by the first robot 717. Separately, loading from thetemporary storage 728, transportation between the treatment units andunloading to the temporary storage 728 of the substrate are conducted bythe second robot 724. The provision of such two robots makes it possibleto divide the interior of facilities into a loading and unloading area Lwhich includes the first robot 717 and the loading and unloadingsections 715, and a treatment unit area P which includes the secondrobot 724, the temporary storage 728 and the various treatment unitsincluding the annealing unit 986.

Such division in the interior of facilities has the followingadvantages. Since the amount of contaminants is small in the loading andunloading area L compared to the treatment unit area (treatment section)P, air-conditioning facilities for the loading and unloading area L canbe simplified. Further, the loading and unloading area L can be madedetachable. This enables replacement of the treatment unit with anothernew treatment unit for combination with the loading and unloading area Lso as to meet the rapid advance in the semiconductor industry.Alternatively, in order to meet a new model cassette and facilitatetransportation of the substrate, the loading and unloading area L can bereplaced with another new one.

1-39. (canceled)
 40. A method for processing a substrate, said methodcomprising: providing a substrate having fine grooves in a surface ofthe substrate and a seed layer on a surface of the fine grooves; forminga plated film on the seed layer by electroplating with applying avoltage to the seed layer; etching the plated film by reversing thevoltage; and annealing the plated film after said etching.
 41. A methodaccording to claim 40, wherein said annealing is conducted at atemperature of 300 to 400° C.
 42. A method according to claim 41,further comprising cooling the substrate by a cooling device after saidannealing.
 43. A method according to claim 41, wherein said annealing isconducted in an inert gas atmosphere.
 44. A method according to claim43, wherein the inert gas is nitrogen gas.
 45. A method according toclaim 41, wherein said annealing is conducted while flowing anantioxidant gas.
 46. A method according to claim 45, wherein theantioxidant gas flows along a surface of the substrate.
 47. A methodaccording to claim 40, further comprising bevel-etching the substrate toremove the plated film only on a peripheral portion of the substratebefore said annealing.
 48. A method according to claim 47, wherein anedge cut width of the substrate is set in the range of 2 mm to 5 mm insaid bevel-etching.
 49. A method according to claim 40, furthercomprising chemical mechanical polishing the substrate to remove theplated film on the substrate while leaving the plated film in the finegrooves of the substrate after said annealing.
 50. A method according toclaim 49, wherein said chemical mechanical polishing is conducted byusing a fixed abrasive.
 51. A method according to claim 49, furthercomprising forming a protective film on a polished surface of the platedfilm in the fine grooves.
 52. A method according to claim 40, furthercomprising reinforcing the seed layer in the fine grooves by plating.53. A method according to claim 52, wherein the plating iselectroplating.
 54. A method according to claim 52, wherein the platingis electroless plating.
 55. A method according to claim 40, furthercomprising measuring a thickness of the plated film on the substrateafter said etching or after said annealing.
 56. A method according toclaim 40, further comprising: transferring the substrate having theplated film by a first hand of a robot to a cleaning unit; cleaning andthen drying the substrate by the cleaning unit after said annealing; andtransferring the cleaned and dried substrate by a second hand of therobot.
 57. A method according to claim 40, wherein the electroplating isconducted in a plating liquid in a plating container, a concentration ofcomponents in the plating liquid is adjusted in a regulating tank, andthen supplied from the regulating tank to the plating container.
 58. Amethod according to claim 57, wherein the concentration of components inthe plating liquid in the regulating tank is measured.
 59. A methodaccording to claim 40, wherein the electroplating is conducted withregulating electric current flowing in a vicinity of a peripheralportion of the substrate.
 60. A method according to claim 40, whereinthe plated film is copper.
 61. A method for processing a substrate, saidmethod comprising: providing a substrate having fine grooves in asurface of the substrate and a seed layer on a surface of the finegrooves; forming a plated film on the seed layer by electroplating withsupplying a first current by a voltage to the seed layer and thensupplying a second current to the seed layer; and annealing thesubstrate having the plated film.
 62. A method according to claim 61,wherein the second current is larger than the first current.
 63. Amethod according to claim 61, further comprising etching the plated filmformed on the substrate by reversing the voltage applied to the seedlayer.
 64. A method according to claim 61, wherein said annealing isconducted at a temperature of 300 to 400° C.
 65. A method according toclaim 64, further comprising cooling the substrate by a cooling deviceafter said annealing.
 66. A method according to claim 64, wherein saidannealing is conducted in an inert gas atmosphere.
 67. A methodaccording to claim 66, wherein the inert gas is nitrogen gas.
 68. Amethod according to claim 64, wherein said annealing is conducted whileflowing an antioxidant gas.
 69. A method according to claim 68, whereinthe antioxidant gas flows along a surface of the substrate.
 70. A methodaccording to claim 62, further comprising bevel-etching the substrate toremove the plated film only on a peripheral portion of the substratebefore said annealing.
 71. A method according to claim 70, wherein anedge cut width of the substrate is set in the range of 2 mm to 5 mm insaid bevel-etching.
 72. A method according to claim 62, furthercomprising chemical mechanical polishing the substrate to remove theplated film on the substrate while leaving the plated film in the finegrooves of the substrate after said annealing.
 73. A method according toclaim 72, wherein said chemical mechanical polishing is conducted byusing a fixed abrasive.
 74. A method according to claim 72, furthercomprising forming a protective film on a polished surface of the platedfilm in the fine grooves.
 75. A method according to claim 61, furthercomprising reinforcing the seed layer in the fine grooves by plating.76. A method according to claim 75, wherein the plating iselectroplating.
 77. A method according to claim 75, wherein the platingis electroless plating.
 78. A method according to claim 61, furthercomprising measuring a thickness of the plated film on the substrateafter etching or after said annealing.
 79. A method according to claim62, further comprising: transferring the substrate having the platedfilm by a first hand of a robot to a cleaning unit; cleaning and thendrying the substrate by the cleaning unit after said annealing; andtransferring the cleaned and dried substrate by a second hand of therobot.
 80. A method according to claim 61, wherein the electroplating isconducted in a plating liquid in a plating container, a concentration ofcomponents in the plating liquid is adjusted in a regulating tank, andthen supplied from the regulating tank to the plating container.
 81. Amethod according to claim 80, wherein the concentration of components inthe plating liquid in the regulating tank is measured.
 82. A methodaccording to claim 61, wherein the electroplating is conducted withregulating electric current flowing in a vicinity of a peripheralportion of the substrate.
 83. A method according to claim 61, whereinthe plated film is copper.
 84. A method for processing a substrate, saidmethod comprising: providing a substrate having fine grooves in asurface of the substrate and a seed layer on a surface of the finegrooves; forming a plated film on the seed layer by electroplating withapplying a voltage to the seed layer; etching the plated film byreversing the voltage so as to suppress action of an additive andprevent formation of a protuberance on the fine grooves; and annealingthe plated film after said etching.
 85. A method according to claim 84,wherein said etching achieves uniformity of the plated film.